Art Movements & Isms
PICTORIALISM
Time period : 1880’s – 1920’s
Key characteristics/ conventions : Pictorialism strived to be art by trying to make pictures that resembled paintings ie. manipulating images in the darkroom, scratching and marking their prints to imitate the texture of canvas, using soft focus, blurred and fuzzy imagery based on allegoric and spiritual subject matter, including religious scenes.
A number of different photographic groups and associations emerged that promoted pictorialism such as: The Vienna Camera Club (Austria).
Artist Associated:
- Henrich Kuhn
- Hugo Hunneberg
- Hans Watcek
- Julia Margaret Cameron
- George Davidson
- Peter Henry Emerson
Key works:
Methods/ techniques/ processes: Experimenting with chemicals in the dark room and they also placed Vaseline on the lens to create this sinister blur in the images.
REALISM / STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY
Time period: 1920’s
Key characteristics/ conventions : Went back on photography origins because photographers believed in the intrinsic qualities of the photographic medium and its ability to provide accurate images. They wanted to produce images that were more photographic than painterly. REALISM
Artists associated:
- Paul Strand
- Jacob Riis
- Dorathea Lange
- Walker Evans
- Alfred Stieglitz
Key works:
Methods/ techniques/ processes: Straight photography uses a sharp focus allowing key details to shine through and draw our attention. Realism photography is used to show and capture what the world is really like. Each image reflects the life and a story for each individual .