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Abstract

Photographic resources are well known within museum contexts. However, these images are rarely considered in terms of how they enhance the historical value of museum objects, construct aesthetic and ethnographic meanings, and interpret museum collection practices. This paper examines the multi-media collections of Eliot Elisofon, an internationally known photographer and filmmaker who traveled in Africa from 1943-1972. The Elisofon collection at the National Museum of African Art contains both photographic materials and three-dimensional objects created and collected in the course of Elisofon's professional career. I explore the ways in which Elisofon's images have been used to illustrate objects in situ, represent cultural contexts of use and meaning, and create multiple layers of authentication for the objects (i.e., artistic, documentary, ethnographic). Attention is also given to the importance of photography as a collection practice in and of itself.

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Visualism and the Authentification of the Object: Reflections on the Eliot Elisofon Collection at the National Museum of African Art

Abstract

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