Week 4
Naturalism ; Peter Henry Emerson
- Naturalism: photo nature as is, no manipulation or combo printing, no enlarging, no hand held cameras, no retouching, no set up - Photographer should be concerned with beauty - The focus of print should imitate what the human eye sees: main subject in focus background blurred, selective focus, framing
Straight Modernism ; Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976)
- New Objectivity & Precisionism: objective straight photography, look for clarity of form, clean crisp lines, precise geometric volumes - Member of F/64 group: glossy and luscious, beautiful tonal range with contrast, a lot of darkroom work but invisible to viewer - Subject: beauty found in things around the house i.e. plants, female nude, but note in the title
Birth of Modernism ; Stylistic changes in Painting from Renaissance to Modernism 1600-1950
- Renaissance Painting (1600's) Representational (looks real), one point perspective, one view point, canvas edge is window frame Subject Matter: portrait, landscape, still life, narrative (nudes appear only in the following categories) ; historical, religious, mythological
Straight Modernism ; Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956)
- Russian - Page layout design influenced Life Magazine - Photographic work fits straight modernist aesthetic: close ups, unusual vantage points, reflections
The Photo-Secession and Stieglitz ; Alfred Stieglitz Stylistic Qualities Early Years
- Stylistic Qualities: Early works were similar to other pictorialists, later work is modernism - Stieglitz open to new ideas earlier on: promoted hand held camera, cropped image enlarged image, most pictorialists avoided these antithesis of snapshot, urban scene almost exclusively, photographing in extreme conditions, post camera manipulation
Straight Modernism ; Ansel Adams
- Stylistically: depth of field, full tonal range, clean composition, emphasis on form texture and detail, dark skies - Developed the Zone system: scientific approach to photography, exact tonal range desired by photographer, total control of exposure and metering
Pictorialism ; Edward Steichen Stylistic Qualities
- Stylistically: pure natural landscape and urban scenes, main subject suggestive rather than descriptive, vague and mysterious, soft focus, subdued tonalities, subjective and expressive, fascination of light - Heavy manipulation and technical control of the medium: gum bichromate
Straight Modernism ; Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966)
- Subject: views of NY sky scrapers, pinhole, lack of detail - Stylistically: odd cropping and framing, tightly compressed space, unique camera angle, new point of view, close-ups, formalism the content is the form - Vortographs: shot through prism, abstract, flatten, multiply, distort
Pictorialism ; Gertrude Kasebier
- Subjects Include: portraits flowers children, mother and child theme - Unconventionally Composes Scenes: sense of intimacy, idealized life of middle class, tells story with photographs, beautiful use of light
Pictorialism ; Clarence H. White
- Taught photography to earn a living - Clarence White School of Photography - Beginning of new trend for art photographers - Don't have to be elitist or independently wealthy
Straight Modernism ; Henry Callahan
- Telephoto lens to isolate people on street - Uses snap shot aesthetic: casual, unprepared, blurry, imperfect
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; Readymades
- The idea was to question the very notion of art, and the adoration of art, which Duchamp found "unnecessary". My idea was to choose an object that wouldn't attract me, either by its beauty or by its ugliness
Birth of Modernism ; Red Scare
- The livelihood of many within the arts community was seriously threatened by these investigations. In 1954, McCarthy set out to locate communists in the U.S. Army, a campaign that led to his downfall
The Photo-Secession and Stieglitz ;
- The object of the Photo-Secession is: - To advance photography as applied to pictorial expression - To draw together those Americans practicing or otherwise interested in the art - To hold from time to time at varying places exhibitions not necessarily limited to the product ions of the Photo-Secession or to American Work
Early Art Photography ; Lady Clementina Hawarden (1822-1865)
- Victorian England: amateur photographer for the last seven years of her life, produced 800 images - Images of Daughters in Costumes: narrative scenes from literature, mirror is a symbol of real life vs. dream world and art vs. life, her exact intent is unknown - Stylistically: emphasized facial expression, everyday from home life, active poses, collodion process
Early Art Photography ; Julia Margaret Cameron Stylistic Qualities
Large Plate negatives, close ups, directional light, subjects were not ideal people, shallow depth of field, selective focus
Straight Modernism ; Straight Photography Stylistically
- Reflections in glass metal and industrial items, unusual angles, close-ups, flat space
Birth of Modernism ; Modernism in Photography
- Modernist photography and modernist painting share something in common - Subject Matter: no historical, allegorical, or narrative subject matter - Abstraction: lack of representation, fattening of depth or 3D space, lack of perspective, alters space from reality, multiple viewpoints
Straight Modernism ; New Objectivity
- 1900-10's Early Modernist Straight Photography: abstraction through close ups, reflections, and unusual camera angles - 1920-30's New Objectivity (Precisionism): next generation of modernist - Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, an Imogen Cunningham - Focus: objective, straight photography, photograph everything you see equally, treat every subject as if it was the same, look for clarity of form (geometry), move from general abstraction to emphasis on form, clean crisp lines (used large format cameras), precise geometric volumes - Photograph the real world - Objective approach rather than subjective
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; L.H.O.O.Q.
- A phonetic game which, when read out loud in French quickly sounds like "Elle a chaud au cul". Translated means She has a hot ass
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; Bauhaus (1919-1933)
- A school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts and was famous for the approach to design - Bauhaus style became one of the most influential currents in modernist architecture and modern design - The school was closed by its own leadership under pressure from the Nazi regime in 1933
Early Art Photography ; Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)
- AKA Rev. Charles Ludwig Dodgson: author of Alice in Wonderland, math teacher, 25 years of photographing - 3,000 negatives, images of landscape, adult portraits - Portraits of Young Girls: influenced by Pre-Raphaelite painters , nude prepubescent - Ideas of Femininity: innocence and virginity - Or Early Childhood Pornography: private eroticism in photos, teasing and adult like sexual poses
Straight Modernism ; Aaron Siskind (1903-1991)
- Abstract Expression: flatten, lack of perceptive, but no distortion of image, sharply rendered, fully textured - Focus on marks humans left: no narrative content, literal subject matter unimportant, isolate and alter scale, influence of accident, spontaneous
Straight Modernism ; Minor White (1908-1976)
- Abstract Expressionism (height of modernism) - Inspired by Stieglitz's "Equivalents" (the clouds) - Post WWII Modernism: abstraction of thought as well as form - White, Siskind, Callahan - Literal Subject becomes irrelevant: total abstraction, no idea of scale or locale, free of representation, rejects material realm, photograph does not contain meaning, viewer can create one
Straight Modernism ; Ansel Adams pt 2
- Accessible and popular work for a Modernist: representational, landscape, non-offensive, likable - As an artist: wrote books, taught classes, publicly accessible
Birth of Modernism ; Red Scare pt 2
- After more than a decade of highly visible political photography during the New Deal and WWII, artists and photographers left the fray, having been harassed by the government or discouraged by the slowness of social change
The Photo-Secession and Stieglitz ; Modernism - Straight Photography
- Alfred Stieglitz's The Steerage (1907): considered the first modernist photograph, not about immigrants in shot, about forms and shapes they create - Aesthetic Formalism: emphasized form over content, photographer not waiting for arrangement of scene, no cropping full frame becomes important, influence was the snap shot - Looks like a photograph - Not printmaking or painting - 180 degree turn from the Pictorialists
Straight Modernism ; Straight Photography
- Alfred Stieglitz's The Steerage 1907: considered the first modernist photograph, not about immigrants in shot, about forms and shapes they create - Aesthetic Formalism: emphasized form over content, photographer not waiting for arrangement of scene, no cropping full frame becomes important, influence was the snap shot - Looks like a photograph - Not printmaking or painting - 180 degree turn from the Pictorialists
Pictorialism ; Edward Steichen (1879-1973)
- American - Painter and Photographer: member of linked ring, founding member of photo secessionists - Early Work (Pictorialism Later): commercial photographer, aerial photography in WWII, curator of photography at MOMA in NY
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; Man Ray (1890-1946)
- American also spent time in Paris, Member of Surrealist Movement - Painter, friend of Stieglitz - Techniques used to achieve image: photogram (camera less image), no negative, everyday objects laid down on light sensitive paper, transforms objects into something else, liberated from perspective/realism, unique and non reproducible (like painting) - Solarization: purposely exposing print of negative to secondary source of lighting during development, odd reversal of tones, double printing/exposure
The Photo-Secession and Stieglitz ; Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946)
- American who studied in Europe - Photo Clubs: member of Linked Ring, founder of Photo-Secessionists, one of the founders of Modernism - Promoting photo as a form of art probably more essential than the historical importance of his own photographs - Curator of 291 - Editor of Camera Work
Pictorialism ; Clarence H. White (1871-1925)
- American: member of photo secessionists - Use of Nude in Art has changed & more excepted in photography: more acceptable without allegory, beauty not sensuality, subtlety and tender, less detail, blurry nipples no pubic hair - Stylistically: classical posses, artistically lit as opposed to naturally lit, early AM light, back lit and romatnic
Straight Modernism ; Paul Strand (1890-1976)
- American: studied photography with Lewis Hine, friends with Stieglitz but younger, last issue of camera work - Early on in career = Pictorialist, Changed Aesthetic: hand held camera, realistic things are abstracted, accentuated geometric forms, sharp focus, close ups, flatten space, emphasized patterns of light and dark - Characteristically: humans like ants, hard to understand what you are looking at
Early Art Photography ; Rejlander's "Two Ways of Life" 1857
- Combination Print: Collodion process, 30 negatives masked and printed on two large sheets of photographic paper, complex tableaux, a visually dramatic scene or situation that suddenly arises, re-photographed to hide cut & paste work - Subject: A. two men choosing between good and moral life and sinful life B. Nudes are considered shocking and covered during exhibition C. Critics unsupportive of fabrication or combination prints D. Royal Family purchases a print & validates the image
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; DADA
- DADA: A form of artistic anarchy born out of disgust for the social, political, and cultural establishment of the time which it held responsible for Europe's descent into World War - Dadaism was an "anti art" stance as it was intent on destroying the artistic values of the past
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; DADA and Surrealism
- DADA: Europe is between two World Wars, irrational modern world, chaotic, unpredictable - Collective unconscious (Carl Jung): connects all people and cultures, artwork intended to access symbols and archetypes of collective unconscious - Deal with random ideas of: experimentation, automation, movement chance - No common stylistic elements - Not clear what made an artists a Dadaist
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; Collage
- Describes a recombination of already existing visual materials effected by pasting them together on a non sensitized support and if desired re-photographing the result
Straight Modernism ; Alvin Langdon Coburn
- Early 20th century photographer. He became the first major photographer to emphasize the visual potential of elevated viewpoints and later made some of the first completely abstract photographs
The Photo-Secession and Stieglitz ; Alfred Stieglitz "Equivalent" 1929, Silver Gelatin Process
- Equivalent Series: abstracts of clouds, clouds without land as reference points, abstract like photo grams
Early Art Photography ; Examples of Etching
- Etching is a process of print in which the artist draws on a metal plate. The plate is inked and pressed onto paper to transfer the drawing mechanically. Even though a mechanical process is used in the creation of the image, the validity of this process to create works of art was never challenged
Early Art Photography ; What is Fine art vs. Documentary or Commercial Art
- Fine artists have a personal goal of self expression over any other working motivation - Early art photography has something more than documentary photography: strong stylistic qualities, softer look, out of focus, use of allegory or narrative, use of symbolism - Subject: Genre Scenes
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; Surrealism
- First surrealist manifesto of 1924 - Discover a "superior" reality, the look of Surrealist art was inspired by the irrational juxtaposition of images - Positive response to DADA's negativity - Liberate the artist's imagination by tapping into the unconscious mind - Pure psychic automation, a spontaneous form of drawing without conscious control of the mind
Pictorialism ; Pictorialism (1890-1920's)
- Founded by Several Photographers: including George Davidson (UK), movement out of and as a reaction to naturalism, also reacting against snapshots - Goal was Photo = Art: emphasized beauty over realism, expression over sharpness - Looks similar to Naturalism but different in belief: serious manipulation of process, subject matter becomes more urban scenes although not always, most of image out of focus (not selective)
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; Eugene Atget (1857-1927)
- Frenchman &Neighbor of Man Ray: Career helped by Bernice Abbott who was the assistant to Man Ray, surrealists claimed him, work became well known after his death - Photographed old quarters of Paris: deserted in the early morning, familiarly common and disturbing at the same time - Technically Untrained: used slow exposures, view camera with the wrong lens, creates vignette, glass negatives, 30 years 10,000 negatives
Straight Modernism ; Henry Callahan (1912-1999)
- Friend of Siskind - Photographing the natural world is not enough: more personal than grand landscapes of Ansel Adams - Thematic Approach: stylistically differs project to project, think of an idea and work with it i.e. a series, nature abstracted, projected images onto his wife Eleanor (like a double exposure), collaged images
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; John Heartfield (1891-1968)
- German - Photomontage: same as collage but rephotographed for seamless quality, images from mass media, juxtaposition of images alters the original meaning - Montage - rapid succession of images or to "assemble work" - Collage - simply means glue - Political anti Hitler magazine for shock value
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; Hannah Hoch (1889-1978)
- German DADA Movement - Photo collage: used halftone images from mass media, original meaning of images is re contextualized - Juxtaposition: two images, related or seemingly unrelated, placed next to each other to create new meaning - Subject and Style: chaos of war and revolution, redefining the roles and identity for the new woman, the familiar becomes unfamiliar, Frankensteinish was grotesque, disturbing, and sexual, used allegory, caricature, irony
Birth of Modernism ; Senator Joseph McCarthy
- Headed the powerful White House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) which had subpoenaed prominent entertainers as suspected communists in 1947 and 1951
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1895-1976)
- Hungarian born professor at Bauhaus, Berlin - Surrealist: camerless images (photogram), similar to Man Ray's - Interested In: dynamics of light and space, impersonal = universal archetype, not mimicking painting but dealing with the same ideas
Straight Modernism ; Edward Weston (1886-1958)
- Illinois College of Photography: influenced by Stieglitz and Strand - New Objectivity and Precisionism: west coast photographer including - Ansel Adams & Imogen Cunningham - Named for aperture setting: member of group F/64 - Subject Matter: natural forms, move away from industrial - Prints: glossy and luscious, beautiful tonal range with contrast, a lot of darkroom work but invisible to viewer, contract prints from 8 x 10" negative
Early Art Photography ; Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879)
- Julia Margaret Cameron: wealthy high class woman, given camera at 48 years old, friends with Sir John Herschel, didn't have to make money with her work - Subject Matter: use of allegory and narrative, personification of characters from bible and literature, influenced by Pre-Raphaelite painters - Criticized for lack of Technical Perfection: becomes her signature style, used collodion with slower exposure (5 mins), no posing equipment, soft exposure accidental but then preferred, emphasized blur adds atmosphere to image, hides likeness, more character, spiritual quality
Early Art Photography ; Amateur Photographers
- Members of the Elite society: wealthy with time and money to spend, expected to have and develop artistic talent, skilled at photography, pursuing photography for the sake of art not for profit - Formation of photography clubs: provided a forum for dialogue, artists engage in a debate over whether photography is an art, inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite painters, trade technical information, produced annual albums - Goal: Photo=Art, More than technical, more than objective reproduction
Birth of Modernism ; Stylistic Changes in Painting from Renaissance to Modernism
- Modernist (1950's) Abstract, non referential, no illusion or perspective, multiple or no determinable view point, surface of canvas is emphasized, no 3D illusion Subject matter: self referential, subject is painting, urban or industrial, indeterminable
Straight Modernism ; Ansel Adams (1902-1984)
- New Objectivity & Precisionism: objective straight photography, look for clarity of form, clean crisp lines, precise geometric volumes - Member of F/64 group: glossy and luscious, beautiful tonal range with contrast, a lot of darkroom work but invisible to viewer, days to complete one print, 8 x 10" camera, 20 x 24" prints - Subject: American Western Landscapes, precise moment in time
The Photo-Secession and Stieglitz ; Gallery 291
- New York City from 1905 to 1917 - Originally known as the "Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession" - Exhibitions there helped bring art photography to the same stature in America as painting and sculpture - Equally important, Stieglitz used this space to introduce to the United States some of the most avantgarde European artists of the time
Pictorialism ; Manipulation in Pictorialism
- Non-Silver Process: gum bichromate, platinum, palladium, on textured paper - Control Over: tonalities, highlights, obscure remove detail - Stylistically: indistinguishable from print making, atmosphere over subject matter, broad shapes, soft focus all over not just selectively, idea of mystery and suggestion
Pictorialism ; Gum Bichromate
- Non-Silver process - Pigment can be added to tone print - Print can be manipulated while drying: blended with finger ; stomps, Retouched with pencils brushes and paint
Early Art Photography ; Henry Peach Robinson (1830-1901)
- Painter turned photographer - Applied elements of painting to photography including: chiaroscuro and composition - Rejlander inspired Robinson to try combination printing
Early Art Photography ; Oscar Gustave Rejlander (1813-1875)
- Painter: started using photography as a reference - To make art photography look more like art: 1) Less sharp more like painting, smeared lens with grease, jiggled tripod, slower exposures 2) Imitated subject matter of painting 3) Combination printing, to fabricate an image like painters
Naturalism ; 1880's
- Peter Henry Emerson (1856-1936): wealthy studied science, British - Goal was to promote photo as art: embracing science, photo should be equivalent to other forms of art but it needs to find its own path, photo should not imitate other forms of art, reaction to early art photography - Individual photographer has unique style: not a vehicle for personal emotional expression
The Photo-Secession and Stieglitz ; Photo Clubs Early 1900's
- Photo Clubs' Purpose: promote photography as an art form in America, Trade technical and conceptual information exchange dialogue, provide a venue to exhibit work, members were pictorialist but photo clubs outlast pictorialist movement - Linked Ring UK 1902: unsatisfied members of Royal Photographic Society, founded by Henry Peach Robinson and George Davidson, members had to be elected - Photo Secessionists, New York 1902: founded by Alfred Stieglitz along with Edward Steichen and others, diverse membership including many women
The Photo-Secession and Stieglitz ; 291 and Camera Work
- Photo Secessionists venues to exhibit work: Little galleries of 291, photo secessionists gallery, chose to exhibit all forms of artwork alongside photography, including modernist artists Rodin, Picasso, Matisse, Toulouse-Lautrec, Cezanne, O'Keefe - Camera Work (magazine) 1903-1917: photogravures (photo etching) reproductions tipped in, all forms of art including in magazine, included historic works by past photographers (i.e. Julia Margaret Cameron) - Finally achieves goal of photography as equal to art: by displaying photography alongside art, don't chase or compete with painting, in modernism art and photography have the same stylistic goals
Early Art Photography ; The Debate Surrounding Photography as a form of Art around 1860
- Photography is not art because it is a science: a mechanical process devoid of the human hand
Early Art Photography ; The Debate Surrounding Photography as a form of Art Around 1860
- Photography is the same as printmaking (etching). It utilizes mechanical devices, but it is a significant form of handmade art. - The aim was to make photographs look less like a photo and more like drawing/etching - Increase individual stylistic qualities (like Hill and Adamson), retouching, combination printing, hand coloring
Early Art Photography ; The Debate Surrounding Photography as a form of Art Around 1860
- Photography is useful in the art process, but not equal in the level of creativity of painting, drawing, or sculpting - Painters use of photography: not at all, as a reference (like Thomas Eakins or Edgar Degas), make reproductions of paintings of paintings for art history purposes
Pictorialism ; Gertrude Kasebier (1852-1934)
- Pictorialist Women: turn of the 20th century strong feminist movement, clubs contribute greatly to it, photo secessionist no exception, 20% photo-secessionists are women - Kasebier: began as hobbyist moved into art photo, eventually became a popular portrait photographer, first woman in the Linked Ring, founding member of the photo-secessionists
Naturalism ; Peter Henry Emerson
- Platinum Prints: greater tonal range, luscious prints, softer quality to image - Photographs have a sense of: spontaneity, poetic, romantic - Subjects: English rural poor, normal customs traditions, no set up, not touched by modern life
The Photo-Secession and Stieglitz ; Stieglitz's Portraits of Georgia O'Keefe
- Portrait of Wife: painter Georgia O'Keefe, over many years, one can note the change of Stieglitz's style from Pictorialism to Abstract Modernist aesthetic - Image Quality: 8x10" camera, contact negatives, platinum prints, incredible tonal range- Intimate portraits that only a lover could make: photos like this had not been seen before, her cooperation becomes collaborative in nature
Straight Modernism ; Edward Weston
- Previsualization of photograph: enough technical control of the medium to know exactly what end result will look like - Technically Perfect: lighting, exposure, printing - Distinct Refinement of Style: common objects as extraordinarily beautiful, abstracted objects unified by form, light shape, surrounded by darkness, centered in tight composition, no context
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; Montage
- Refers to the combination of camera images on film or photographic paper in the darkroom
Birth of Modernism ;
Disgusted with politics and angered by the shallow materialism of what economist John Kenneth Galbraith famously called "the affluent society" in his 1958 book of the same name, many artists, writers, and photographers turned to the inner world of private contemplation .
DADA and Surrealism Experimental Photography ; DADA and Surrealism
Surrealism: similar to Dadaism - Freud and psychoanalysis of dreams to access the unconscious, truth above and beyond reality, free association with words/ideas - Painters had highly representational stylized quality - Photography is inherently surrealistic because it is based in reality - Organized art movement with manifesto: writer, photographers, painters