From photography's earliest days, the thrill and immediacy of the new medium were defined at the first public exhibitions. Half art, half science, photography captured the attention of everyone from eager technophiles to curious painters: the art of representation was about to change. This is the first book to study the history of photography via international exhibitions. The foremost historians of the medium describe the most important shows and set them in the context of their times, from London's Great Exhibition of 1851 to today. Edited by Alessandra Mauro, with contributions by and interviews with a host of international photography experts, this will be required reading for anyone with a serious interest in photography and curating, and provides the most informative and wide- ranging survey available of the era's defining medium.