On the Art of Fixing a Shadow: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Photography is a landmark history of photography published by Bulfinch Press in 1989 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the invention of photography. Edited by Sarah Greenough, with essays by leading historians and curators including Joel Snyder, David Travis, Naomi Rosenblum, Merry Foresta, Keith F. Davis, Weston J. Naef, and others, the volume accompanied the major international exhibition organized by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive surveys of photographic history, the book traces the artistic, technical, and cultural evolution of photography from its invention in 1839 through the late twentieth century.
The title, On the Art of Fixing a Shadow, refers to one of the earliest descriptions of photography as the process of permanently capturing light and shadow. The publication examines how photography developed from a scientific innovation into one of the world's most influential artistic and documentary media. Rather than presenting photography as a single, unified tradition, the book explores its many functions—as fine art, documentary evidence, journalism, scientific record, commercial illustration, and personal expression—demonstrating the extraordinary diversity of photographic practice over 150 years.