Between Art and Artifact: the Photography of Abel Boulineau

This thesis explores the function, classification, and re-contextualization of historical photographs as they are understood and digested by art museums. The Abel Boulineau French Regional Life collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), which I researched, re-organized, and re-attributed during the summer of 2010, provides a case study for this topic. I investigate the contingencies of meaning surrounding late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century photography, and the inadequacy of art historical models for interpreting works not originally created as aesthetic objects. I explore how museums must understand and grapple with its early photography, and the implications of re-contextualizing such collections within its institutional discourses. The work of producing an attribution places necessary emphasis on photographs as historical entities, and recovers information about their original creation and circulation. Surveying the French Regional Life collection reveals both the pragmatic and theoretical issues involved in making an analysis of early photography.MAS