Tenth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

There has been limited research into the 18th century dark landscape mirror commonly known as the Claude Glass. What study there is places differing importance on its use and influence in the history of optical devices. Jonathon Crary (1990) describes the glass as a mere implement working in metaphoric relation to the innate powers of the human subject, whereas, Geoffrey Batchen (1991) places it in a mosaic of influences that generated the desire for photography. The glass shares some physical similarities with modern hand-held image making devices, and has some of the structural qualities that Vilem Flusser (2011) describes as imaginary, magical and mythical. This paper explores those qualities to determine what the historical use of the Claude Glass can tell us of the contemporary form of the image mediated via the lens, both in relation to that history and as considered through my own photography.