CHArt Twentieth Annual Conference

Andrew Hershberger, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA
The Medium was the Method: Photography and Iconography at the Index of Christian Art

The Index of Christian Art is a well-known collection of over 200,000 photographs with corresponding iconographical text cards, an early form of hybrid media now being translated into digital formats, all created for their use and value in art historical investigations. This paper will examine the theory and practice behind the production of the photographs and text cards in the Index during two periods, focusing on the time when the Index began in the early twentieth century, and then speculating on how or whether that period has been transformed by the digital present.

In a recent history of the Index, Isa Ragusa claims that "there was no model for the method of study of iconography that [Charles Rufus] Morey had in mind" when he founded the Index in 1917. With regard to the conference's focus on "Futures Past" and on the practice of art history then and now, Ragusa's claim is not entirely correct. Instead, it will be argued that the medium of photography itself was the model for iconography during the first period of the Index's existence. What then does that mean for the digital moment the Index is in now? Is the new medium, the Internet and digital technology, likewise a model for iconography today at the Index?

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