The basic concept of modernism is the rejection of older movements such as classicism in favor of a more modern ideal. This was done through many different styles of photograph, namely: Abstract, dadaism, surrealism and also social reform photography which evenually lead to photojournalism.
Modernism is characterized by the belief that truth could be established through the use of new concepts such as science and technology, which become very apparent in the examples shown in the mood board. This movement recognized that the world was changing and that art had to reflect new ideas and challenges that came with modern life.
Artists associated:
Social reform photography:
Walker Evans
Alfred Stieglitz
Dadaism:
Francis Picabia
Johannes Baader
Surrealism:
Rene Magritte
Salvatore Dali
Methods/ techniques/ processes:
Photo montages integrated multi mediums which was a big technological advance
some photographers such as Ansel Adams used methods such as photographing areas at different times and through different seasons, exploring changing patterns and light intensity
Light sensitive paper was also used in abstract art, which light rays were directed onto
Multiple exposure
solarization, which was when tones were reversed in an image
Post-Modernism
Time period: 1960s/70s
Key characteristics/ conventions :
Post-modernism was a movement in which the concept of modernism discussed above was shattered. Most art under this theme refers to things outside of the art world like social and cultural issues, meaning that it recognizes the value of context in images.
Postmodernists are and were known for skepticism and they also realized that work could be subjective. Postmodernists takes things such as text and insist it is assessed critically in order to help understand meaning.
Unlike modernists, postmodernists don’t value art for being universal. Instead they pride themselves on their work being imperfect and temporary.
Artists associated:
Corinne day: was a British female photographer was a post-modern photographer who had a profound influence in the subject matter of this type of photography. She, along with other photographers, helped new aspects of the social and private life of women to be brought out into the open.
Pictorialism is a style of photography where photographer attempted to make photography a more conventional form of art, since it was not seen as creative during the era it was first created in. This included using models in specific clothing and created outcomes that were unfocused in order to make my creative outputs that resembles drawings and paintings. Pictorialism is heavily revolved around female nudity, as during this time photography as a profession was very elitist, meaning it was mostly dominate by men, which used the female form, sexualizing the female body.
Artists associated:
John everett millais: Painted Ophelia, which is the sort of art this movement was inspired by
Julia Margaret Cameron: one of the few recognised female photographers of this time
Many different pictorialsit groups formed in different areas as part of this movement:
Austria: Vienna camera club
London: The brotherhood of the linked ring
New York: Photo-secession
Methods/ techniques/ processes:
This movement strived for photography to be artistic so different techniques were used in order to achieve different effects:
Used to scratch and manipulate prints. This would make images appear more like pencil drawings or sketches.
Vasaline was sometimes placed on the lens to blur images, as it doesn’t allow the lens to focus.
REALISM / STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY
Time period: 1920s
Key characteristics/ conventions :
Realism is a style of photography that is purely documentary style. It revolves around recording things accurately and not in a metaphorical or artistic manor. It focuses on real people, and real life situations instead of being staged artistically. Photographers who were part of this movement aimed to take images that were clear and precise, so they disregarded techniques such as soft focus and replaced it with sharp images with a wide depth of field.
lots of sub-groups were formed. Social reform photography used real, working class people as its subject. Photographers such as Dorothea Langue focused on documenting the effects of urbanization and industrialization on working class Americans. This was something very prominent at the time of this movement, as the great depression in 1929 left a lot of people struggling. We now see this type of photography as Photojournalism.
Modernism was a broad movement of the first half of the 20th century. The movement rejected the dominance of older movements such as Naturalism and was in favour of new experimental ways of producing art.
DADAISM
In Europe during WWI the Dadaists wanted to break down the traditional definitions of art with the aim to merge art with everyday life. They embraced advanced production, developed mix media practices and engaged with social and political issues. Their photomontages was used to challenge the authority of mass cultural representations used in advertising in the press and magazines
Herbert Bayer – Lonesome City Dweller
SURREALISM
Surrealism was founded in Paris in 1924 by Andre Breton and continued Dadaism’ exploration of everything irrational in art. It aimed to create art which had emerged directly from the unconscious without being shaped by reason, morality or aesthetic judgements. The surrealist explored dream imagery and they were an important art movement within Modernism involving anything from paintings, poetry, sculpture and photography.
Salvatore Dali (1904-1989)Maurice Tabard, 1928
LANDSCAPE
The machine age arrived and Modernism had a profound effect on photography. Landscape photographers moved away from “painting effects” and they began to exploit the medium’s ability to render fine detail. Ansel Adam’s landscape photographs came from his fascination with the natural environment. He would photograph at different times and seasons to explore the effects of changing patterns and intensities of light.
Ansel Adams (1902-84)
POSTMODERNISM
Postmodernism explores power and the way economic and social forces exert that power by shaping the identities of individuals and entire cultures. Postmodernists have little or no faith in the unconscious as a source of creativity. Postmodernism has been criticised for its pessimism as it often critiques but fails to provide a positive vision of what it attacks.
Postmodernism was the name given to the shattering of modernism. In photography this was the direct challenge to the ideal of fine art photography. At the end of 1970s artists began to use codes and conventions of commercial photography against itself. It was also a sign of the of the collapsing of an opposition that had tainted men as artists. The arrival of female artists in 1980s Postmodernism had a huge impact on photography. New aspects of the social and private worlds of women made their way into galleries.
From the 1880s and onwards, photographers wanted photography to be art by trying to capture images that are similar to paintings. For example, manipulating images in the darkroom, scratching and marking their prints to imitate the texture of canvas using blurred and fuzzy images including imagery based on spiritual subject matter and religious scenes. Pictorialism reacted against mechanisation and industrialisation.
ALLEGORICAL PAINTING
Allegory convey meaning which are not literal. It communicates its message by symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representations. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious or political significance and the figures are often personifications of ideas such as greed, charity or envy.
Paolo Veronese (1556)
JULIA MARGARET CAMERON
Julia Margaret Cameron was a photographer in the Victorian era. Her work can fit into two categories such as closely framed portraits and illustrative allegories based on religious and literary works. Her photographs were out of the ordinary since she created blur through long exposures, where the subject moved and sometimes by leaving the lens out of focus.
PETER HENRY EMERSON: NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY
In 1889 he presented his theory of Naturalistic photography which the Pictorialist used to promote photography as an art form.
SALLY MANN
From her personal experiences she has created a haunting series of photographs about the loss of life. What Remains is a body of work that depicts landscapes, decomposing bodies and portraits of her children. She explores the divide between body and soul, life and death, spirit and earth through her photography.
Various photography groups and associations were involved in pictorialism such as: The Vienna Camera Club, The brotherhood of the Linked ring and Photo-Secession
Heinrich KuhnAlfred Horlsey Hinton Fleeting and Far (1903)
STRAIGHT
Photographers who believed in the photographic medium to provide accurate and descriptive records of the visual world. These photographers wanted to create images that were only photographic rather than artistic. They focused on capturing clear images with great detail and sharpness.
REALISM
Associated with straight photography, it claims that photography has a special relationship to reality and the camera’s ability to record objectively was unquestioned. The media relies on photographs to show the truth of what took place.
Paul Strand
WALKER EVANS
He was the leading American documentary photographer of the 20th century. He rejected Pictorialism and focused on serious subject matters such as photographs of three Sharecropper families in the American South during the 1930s Depression.
SOCIAL REFORM PHOTOGRAPHY
A number of photographer’s such as Lewis W Wine and Dorothea Lange began to document the effects of industrialisation and urbanisation on working class Americans. Their work brought the need for housing and labour reform to the attention of legislators and is what we now call photojournalism.
Key characteristics/ conventions : Pictoralism was born out of the desire to have photography accepted as an art form, as such the photographs were made to look more like paintings. Alot of influence from romanticism and various painting movements. Use of allegorical subject matter. Heavily stylized.
Artists associated: The vienna camera club (Heinrich Kuhn, Hans Watcek, Hugo Henneberg) , The brotherhood of the linked ring (H P Robinson), Photo-secession (Frank Fugene, F Holland Day, Clarence H White, Gertrude Kasebier), Sally Mann
Key works:
Methods/ techniques/ processes: Vaseline on lens, chiaroscuro, autochromes
REALISM / STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY
Time period: Started in 1840s
Key characteristics/ conventions : Realistic photography in retaliation to pictorial-ism. Capturing realities of contemporary life synonymous with the depressive era. Documentary photography.
Artists associated: Walker Evans, Paul Strand, Alfred Stieglitz
Key works:
Methods/ techniques/ processes: SLR, modern glass, small aperture.
For my first case study I will be using Rita’s book, “where mimosa bloom”. This photo book was made after the death of her mother, Yolanda, as a way to deal with her grief following this. This photo book intrigues me since the photographer uses a combination or archival image, images of objects and also the metaphor of a mimosa, which is a type of tree native to Barcelona.
The photographer spent two years collecting materials and photographing places, objects and people of significance in the relationship between her and her mother. We see this throughout her book with portraits of her family, and old letters and drawings.
“where mimosa bloom traces a walk across the memory. It tries to remember a mother who is no longer here, through objects, persons, and moments which takes us directly to her person. That’s an homage of Rita to her mother Yolanda. An attempt to assemble in a book her familiar universe.” –Source
Right at the end of the book the photographer has included an essay style letter dedicated to her mother. She goes into detail about how she can “see you [Yolanda] in Dad’s eyes”. This is very emotional and adds to the personal aspect of the images in the book. She also says how “when I was younger…I sometimes imagined that you had died”. Going into detail about her thoughts and feelings in this manor makes the objects and letters within the book, things that would normally have limited meaning to strangers, have more meaning to the viewer.
“Where Mimosa Bloom takes the form of an extended farewell letter” –Source
Analysis:
This memoir is also part family biography, which is why I picked this as a case study as I will also be including my family in my project and I thought it would be useful to see how someone else interpreted their family.
You can see the image on the side skillfully shows some family members’ portraits which helps to create a clear narrative throughout the book, helping the audience understand her perspective.
Technically, this page interests me a lot. Every time you flip a page over, and image of someone from her family is reveled until the audience is able to see an almost type of family tree.
Visually, All these images are clearly older, meaning they are most likely archival. I think this helps add a sense of history to her work making it more deep and meaningful.
