Art Movements & Isms

PICTORIALISM

Time period:

• 1880’s-1920’s

Key characteristics/ conventions:

• The style was made to look like paintings so that photos could get into galleries.
• The photos were influenced by allegorical paintings.

Artists associated:

• Clarence White
• Julia Margaret Cameron
• Peter Henry Emerson
• The Vienna Camera Club (Austria)
• The brotherhood of the linked ring (Lon)
• Photo-secession (NY)

Key works:

Methods/ techniques/ processes:

• The images would be damaged or ruined either in camera or in the darkroom to make them look like painting.

REALISM / STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Time period:

• 1920’s – 1990’s

Key characteristics/ conventions :

Artists associated:

• Walker evans
• Dorothea Lange
• Jacob Riis

Key works:

• American photographs (1938)
• The steerage

Methods/ techniques/ processes:

• To show what it happening, to tell people’s stories about their troubles and problems
• The basis for documentary photography and photojournalism

This image was taken as a self portrait by Peter, he has posed in the photo jumping in “a classically gay pose” with his back leg being kicked up and saluting with one hand on his hip, he has also chosen his outfit carefully to fit the stereotypical gay mans outfit from the 70’s; with cowboy boots, a tucked in polo shirt with all buttons undone. This style fits in with his overall style of making “uncomplicated, direct photographs of complicated and difficult subjects.” This style and his approach to it in this photo is very powerful.

This image is composed with peter in the middle of it, he has chosen to wear dark clothes which do not draw attention, then the main focal point of the image is a strip of light that lines up with his head and arm which is the lightest.

YOSHIKATSU FUJII

Internet sources

• https://www.lensculture.com/articles/yoshikatsu-fujii-red-string
• https://www.ceibaeditions.com/store/books/red-string-the-book/
• https://www.yoshikatsufujii.com/about

Cristina De Middel

Internet sources

• http://www.lademiddel.com/the-afronauts-1.html
• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/10882577/Cristina-de-Middel-The-Afronauts.html
• https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/arts/design/cristina-de-middel-the-afronauts.html

TIME PERIOD

1960s/ 1970s

WHAT IS POSTMODERNISM

Postmodernism developed on the themes and conceptual ideas than began during the period where modernism first grew. This particular type of photography features surrealism, expressionism and other themes that relate to this point and values. As well as this there is also a movement away from traditional rules of art, adventuring away from the norm. Artists may diverge away from the norm by placing subjects in odd arrangement or displays and in some cases there may even be an absence of a definitive subjects, which allows new contextual feelings and idea to grow.

ROOTS AND INFLUENCES

1. World war II (1939-1945),
2. The revolution in science and technology since the 1950s

From Modernism to Postmodernism: The relationship
There are mainly two viewpoints on the relationship between modernism and postmodernism:
1. Postmodernism is a reaction to or even rejection of modernism.
2. Postmodernism is the development and new generation of modernism and they are two aspects of the same thing.

KEY CONVERSATIONS

• Postmodernism is the relation between shifting away from the norm of photography and real world situations. For example, social aspect, historical, political, psychological and many others.
• It considers what the audience believe and feels like when they see the photography
• Relate to the hidden agendas of the art markets and references to art museums and critics of the photography art world

METHOD AND TECHNIQUE

Photographs can be present in a wide range of ways for example blown up, blurred, focused, cropped etc, basically allows artist to express their feeling and thoughts of the topic that they are trying to represent. A popular technique is using repetition of the same image to project even more emphasis on key concepts.

ARTIST ASSOCIATION

• Jean Baudrillard
• Gilles Deleuze
• Jacques Derrida
• Michel Foucault
• Pierre-Felix Guattari
• Fredric Jameson
• Emmanuel Levinas
• Jean-Francois Guattari
• Richard Rorty

MODERNISM

TIME PERIOD

1900s/1960s

WHAT IS MODERNISM

The invention of modernism photography posed a significant aesthetic change to photography artistic history and lead to a shift in the way in which the production of photography is made and utilised the overall forum. The overall movement from old photography into modern photography is defined by a departure of traditional artistic fronts, such as painting and the movement of continuous attitudes. Photographers began using the camera as a direct tool compared to the idea of manipulating the images, modern photographers eventually disrupted the wider conventions of the art world by expanding both what was considered art and what was deemed an acceptable subject matter for it.

ROOTS AND INFLUENCES

By the late 1930s, more experimental photography began to emerge, influenced by Pictorialism and avant-garde photography such as Surrealism, German New Objectivity, and the photograms of László Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray

KEY CONVERSATIONS

• Modernism can be projected through multiple smaller projects such as straight photography or realism photography.
• Modernism is the art movement which associates with cultural trends and changes which came from the transformations in Western society during the late 19th century.

METHODS/TECHNIQUES

It was common that photographers projected there images in a black and white form which believed to help emphasis the sharp details in the images and added more focus on different parts of the image, as well as large frames sizes, adding to the over picture.

ARTIST ASSOCIATION

• Alfred Stieglitz- The steerage (1907)
• Paul Strand- Blind (1916)
• Tina Modotti- Workers Parade (1926)
• Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956)

Bibliography: Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. (2019), Photography Decoded. London; Octopus Publishing House.

‘Photography emerged into a 19th-century world that was undergoing rapid transformation in almost every aspect, and as such the new medium answered a deep human need to see and explore this changing landscape in unprecedented detail.’  (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 17)

‘If manipulation is the first thing someone thinks of in connection to photography, what does that say about the value of the photograph as a reflection of reality? And what does a ‘real photo’ even look like: is it something you can hold? Is it something you can see on a screen and alter?’  (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 17)

‘The process of manipulation starts as soon as we frame a person, a landscape, an object or a scene with our cameras: we choose a portrait or landscape format.’ (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019; 18)

‘The binding principle of photography, however, remains it’s relationship to reality, especially when at question is documentary photography or a picture in news media: we are convinced that ‘it happened’- that the events they represent are real, that they actually took place.’  (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 18)

“Daguerre’s technique gave a unique image : it can only be copied by being re-photographed – something that already suggests photography’s complicated relationship with reality.”( Bright and Van Erp. 2019:17 )

“If manipulation is the first thing someone thinks of in connection with photography, what does that say about the value of the photograph as a reflection of reality?” ( Bright and Van Erp. 2019:17 )

“And what does a ‘real photograph’ look like: Is it something you can hold? Is it something you can see on a screen and alter?” ( Bright and Van Erp. 2019:17 )

“The daguerreotype didn’t make up what was in front of the camera, as a mirror doesn’t lie.” ( Bright and Van Erp. 2019:17 )

“The process of manipulation starts as soon as we frame a person, a landscape, an object or a scene with our cameras.” (Bright and Van Erp. 2019:18)

“From Daguerre’s age to ours, photography has undergone a transformation, not only technologically but conceptually.”(Bright and Van Erp. 2019:18)

Bibliography: Bright, S. and Van Erp, H.(2019), Photography Decoded. London: Octopus Publishing House

Bibliography:

Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. (2019), Photography Decoded. London: Octopus Publishing House

Quotes from the text:

“we can still ask ourselves in every single instance: under what circumstances are these images to be trusted as real?” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 17)

“the lack of human subjectivity makes it an example of ‘true reality’.” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 18)

“The process of manipulation starts as soon as we frame a person” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019:18)

“we are convinced that ‘it happened’- that the events they represent as real, that they actually took place” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 18)

“One can then ask: what are the differences between reality and witness and points of view” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 18)

“From Daguerre’s age to ours: photography has undergone a transformation, not only technologically but conceptually.” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 18)

“it is a subjective impression that is at the same time both fleeting and enduring- just like any good piece of drama.” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 18)

HARVARD SYSTEM OF REFERENCING:

EXAMPLE:

Sherman, C, Published: 2006, Retrospective, New York: Thames & Hudson Inc.

~~~~~own writing~~~~~ (critic/art historian etc.) says: “Drawing on feminism as well as phenomenology, I also suggest here that Sherman’s work participates in a particular mode….” (Sherman, 2006, 33 (page No.)), ~~~~~comment/state opinion on what the author has said~~~~~

POIGNANT QUOTES:

“Daguerre’s technique gave a unique image: it could only be copied by being rephotographed – something that already suggests photography’s complicated relationship with reality.” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 17)

“for the lack of human subjectivity makes it an example of ‘true reality’.” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 18)

“The binding principle of photography, however, remains its relationship to reality, especially when at question is documentary photography or a picture in the news media.” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 18)

“One can then ask: what are the differences between reality and witness and points of view?” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 18)

“The appeal of this work lies in the use of documentary elements in combination with the artist’s obsession and the sense of voyeurism that this evokes.” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 18)

“Initially described as a means of capturing freezing ‘real life’, it has gradually taken on an ever more ambiguous, complicated and fraught character as our ability to modify and share images has exponentially increased.” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 18)