"I'll agree that photography has a well established tradition of this - but as photojournalism (which is where I place Matthew Brady and his mates) not as art.
When I think of art photography, I think along the lines of Stieglitz, Steichen, Weston, Adams (yes, Adams), Bourke-White, Cunningham, Karsh, and countless others. Even Steichen's fashion years weren't what I'd call photojournalism. "
That seems like a rather narrow view of both art and art photography.
There's plenty of art that looked at such things as well - Goya and Picasso come to mind, and also the likes of Grunewald as well as those who produced those wonderfully graphic portrayals of hell.
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