Blurred Observations

BLURRED OBSERVATIONS: THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY GRAND TOUR OF CAPTAIN J. DOUGLASS KENNEDY An essay by Eamonn Canniffe on the Roman photographs of Captain James Douglass Kennedy has been published as Chapter 7 in this new book from Ashgate Nineteenth-Century Photographs and Architecture: Documenting History, Charting Progress, and Exploring the World Edited by Micheline Nilsen (Indiana University South Bend)

In the Introduction Micheline Nilsen writes "Some private collections of photographs, unidentified and idiosyncratic, are undecipherable for us today, others, more systematic or didactic in intent, remain accessible. The function of these albums varied from a private keepsake, a statement fit for public display, to a record for posterity. The specific function intended by Captain Kennedy for his albums may not be explicit but their content suggests a narrative he might have been reluctant to reveal."