Art Movements & Isms

PICTORIALISM

time period : 1880s-1920s

Key characteristics/ conventions : to make photography an accepted art form, the adaptation of skill, reacted against mechanization and industrialization, constructed images looking for harmony of matter, mind and spirit – subjective and spiritual motive. Pictorialism is an approach to photography that emphasizes beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality. Images had a foggy, mystical-type quality of fantasy that highlighted the aesthetically pleasing elements of an image.

Artists associated: Hugo Henneberg, George Davison, Alfred Stieglitz, Henry Peach Robinson.

Key works:  (Equivalent; clouds study),  (He Never Told His Love 1884), (Reflections 1899).

Methods/ techniques/ processes: Vaseline on lens, scratching the print,  manipulating images in the darkroom, making photographs that resembled paintings

ALLEGORICAL PAINTINGS

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PICTORIALISM PHOTOGRAPHY

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REALISM / STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Time period: 1920s

Key characteristics/ conventions : abstract, landscape, show things how they are/ were, the key characteristic of this style was to reflect a person/landscape/object with complete honesty and ‘realism., without heavy editing or manipulation.

Artists associated: Paul Strand, Walker Evans, Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange.

Key works:  ‘A Sea of Steps’,  Monolith, the Face of Half Dome (1927),  Ladder of Ladders (1931).

Methods/ techniques/ processes:  darkroom, digital processes, lighting, exposure.

STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

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MODERNISM

Time period: 1900-1960’s

Key characteristics/ conventions :  difference between wrong and right, what will America’s future be, what is truth, and what does it mean to be an American. Break from tradition which focuses on being bold and experimenting with new style and form and the collapse of old social and behavioural norms. 

Artists associated: Dora Maar, Edward Steichen, André Kertész, , Paul Strand, Tina Modotti.

Key works:  (Metamorphosis of Narcissus), Workers Parade,  Blind, Wall Street.

Methods/ techniques/ processes:  experimentation,  abstraction,  emphasis on materials.

MODERNISM PHOTOGRAPHY

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POST-MODERNISM

Time period: 1960s- 1970s

Key characteristics/ conventions : reaction against the ideas and values of modernism, scepticism, irony and philosophical critiques of the concepts of universal truths and objective reality. Modernism was based on idealism and reason, postmodernism was born of scepticism and a suspicion of reason. 

Artists associated:  William Eggleston, Cindy Sherman, Jeff Wall, Guy Bourdin, Goran Sekulovski, Lee Friedlander, Andreas Gursky, Jacky Redgate, Robyn Stacey, Yasumasa Morimura.

Key works: Campbells Tomato Juice Box, A requiem: spinning a thread between the light and the earth 1946, Ice.

Methods/ techniques/ processes: Can be characterized by a deliberate use of earlier styles and conventions, and an eclectic mixing of different artistic and popular styles and mediums.

POSTMODERN PHOTOGRAPHy

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JIM GOLDBERG

Jim Goldberg is an American photographer best known for his 1995 photobook ‘Raised by Wolves’ which is a documentation of the lives of homeless youth on the streets of California. The series follows a range of characters but primarily focuses on Tweeky Dave and Echo, two teenage drug-addicts. Goldbergs photobook is composed of mixed media including images, video-stills, drawings & interviews mostly with Dave or Echo discussing anything from drugs to home life & their troubled childhoods. Goldberg turns the camera on his subjects and tells a story through their eyes – his photobook is a raw and unfiltered journey through the highs and lows of troubled youth that makes the reader feel connected with his subjects, going as far to include media such as doctors notes or police statements about them, this makes us feel we are there alongside them, experiencing the atmosphere Goldberg photographs of his surroundings whilst hanging out with his subjects, usually in abandoned, rotting houses or underneath highway bridges.

Through his protagonist’s stories Goldberg displays a different side of life in Hollywood through his outsider vs. insider narrative, a drastic change from the stereotypical flashy glamourous lifestyle celebrities in Los Angeles live. I am inspired by Goldbergs work, particularly Raised By Wolves because it gives a unique outlook on life on the streets in almost an endearing way, reading the photobook i felt emotion through Goldberg immersing himself in the life of his subjects and i feel the book incorporates both professional photography and ‘homemade’ more personal elements e.g the subjects writing in the book or including drawings and personal belongings from their lives, it gives a good sense of understanding and helps the reader get to know the characters more. Inspired by this, i plan to include writing in my book from both myself and my friends when i interview them.

IMAGE ANALYSIS

This photo depicts Tank, a homeless youth, pointing a gun at an outsider on the street. Goldberg took this image at an abandoned house the group frequented, where he would photograph them shooting heroin, a key part of the photobook that showcases the darker side of street life. The photo is monochromatic, stripping back emotion to highlight the subject with his gun. The image features a grainy effect that shows the unfiltered theme of the book. The camera is close to Tank aiming the gun and in the distance you can barely make out the figure on the street, this alludes to the outsider vs. insider narrative that runs through the book. The lighting rests primarily on the gun, highlighting the violence and oppression on the streets of California, whereas the stranger on the street is hidden by shadows, putting the focus on Tank. This provides the photo narrative as the viewer is unsure of who the stranger is, and why the gun is pointed at him.