The History and Evolution of Photography Talk

The Vacaville Museum’s Arts and Lecture Series presents it’s inaugural event, “The History & Evolution of Photography,” an engaging illustrated talk presented by noted fine art photography gallery owner, Dr. Jay Keystone. The lecture, presented in connection with the Museum’s newest exhibit, Through the Lens: Our Fruitful Heritage, will focus on the early days of photography, including the origin of the art and its development. It will feature examples of the great photographers of the 19th and 20th centuries — including such masters as Nieipce, Daguerre, Mathew Brady, Edward Stieglitz, Steichen and Weston, Ansel Adams and many others. In addition, the evolution of the photographic process itself will be highlighted. Examples of Daguereotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, glass plate negative, albument prints, stereographs and autochromes will be available and on view.

Dr. Keystone received his MD from the University of Michigan and while in Ann Arbor, as a young man, discovered the importance of photography as an art form. His collection began in 1963 and by 1980–100 years after the Museum exhibit’s featured artist, WR Nutting photographed the Vaca-Valley! At the inception of intense public interest in the art form, Dr. Keystone opened a fine art photography gallery in Santa Barbara. He has given photography lectures throughout the country, including at The Carter Presidential Library during a presidential library tour of a Matthew Brady exhibit. His interest and engagement with fine art photography continues to this day.