erty’s presence as an explorer; today, one of the
Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay is named after him.
The Robert Flaherty Papers are housed at the But-
ler Library of Columbia University, New York.
YVESLABERGESeealso:Photography in Canada
Biography
Born Robert Joseph Flaherty in Iron Mountain, Michigan,
16 February 1884. Studied in various primary schools in
Michigan. Between 1896 and 1989; lived with his father,
a mine manager, in Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay).
From 1899–1890, sent to board at the Upper Canada
College in Toronto; returned to US in 1900. From 1902
to 1903, studied for a short period at the Michigan
College of Mines, in Houghton, but abandoned formal
education after being expelled. Worked as a prospector
north of Lake Huron, between 1907 and 1910. In
August 1910, hired by Sir William Mackenzie, a builder
of the first Canadian railroad, to explore the eastern
coast of the Hudson Bay. Made three journeys on the
Hudson Bay between 1910 and 1913. Studied motion
picture photography and movie-camera technique for a
month, in 1913 at the Eastman Company in Rochester,
New York. Married Frances Hubbard (1883–1972),
who studied with him at the Michigan College of
Mines, on November 12, 1914, in New York City.
Fourth expedition in the Canadian North 1915. Began
to shoot the Inuit again in 1919. Released first film,
Nanook of the North, as director, cameraman, and pro-
ducer, 1922. Wrote his impressions about life in the
Canadian North,My Eskimo Friends, in 1922–1924.
After living three years in the South Seas, released his
filmMoana, 1926. Lived in U.K. between 1931 and- Received the ‘‘Best Film’’ Award at the 1934
Venice Film Festival. Returned to the U.S. in 1939,
until his death. In 1948, his film Louisiana Story
received a British Film Academy award. Honorary Ph.
D. awarded by the University of Michigan, 1950. Died
of a thrombosis on July 23, 1951, at his home, in Dum-
merston, Vermont.
Further Reading
Christopher, Robert J. ‘‘Through Canada’s Northland: The
Arctic Photography of Robert J. Flaherty.’’ In King, J.
C.H., and Henrietta Lidchi, eds.Imaging the Arctic.
Seattle and Vancouver: University of Washington Press
and UBC Press, 1998, 181–189.
Flaherty, Robert J. ‘‘How I Filmed ‘Nanook of the
North’.’’World’s WorkOctober 1922: 632–640.
Hubbard Flaherty, Frances.The Odyssey of a Film-Maker:
Robert Flaherty’s Story. Urbana, Illinois: Beta Phi Mu,
1960.
Hubbard Flaherty, Frances.Picturing Paradise: Colonial
Photography of Samoa, 1875 to 1925. Daytona Beach,
FL: Southeast Museum of Photography, with the Day-
tona Beach Community College, 1995.
Murphy, William T.Robert J. Flaherty: A Guide to Refer-
ences and Resources. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co, 1978.
Rotha, Paul.Robert J. Flaherty: A Biography. Jay Ruby, ed.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983.
The Robert Flaherty Papers, housed at the Butler Library
of Columbia University, New York.VILE
́
M FLUSSER
Czech
Vile ́m Flusser, an important philosopher in the
arena of the new communications media and their
cultural function, was a representative of a Czech
intellectual tradition that included writers like
Franz Kafka and Franz Werfel and philosophers
like Edmund Husserl. Flusser was also influenced
by the language philosophy of Ludwig Wittgen-
stein and by many aspects of Walter Benjamin’s
writings on art, technology, and history. While he
wrote on a number of topics related by the theme of
globalization, including technology, emigration,
and nationalism, his ideas about the nature of
photography and the photograph have made him
an important influence on image theory in the
1980s to the present day. In contrast to the analy-
tical modernist thinking, focused on the depth of the
signified and represented by theorists like Karl
Marx or Sigmund Freud, Flusser directed his main
interest to the ‘‘surfaces’’ of the signifier and their
equivalence. He emphasized the creative possibili-FLAHERTY, ROBERT JOSEPH