what is New Topographic
Topographic is a way of describing images which have this similar banal look to them. And in most of the phots they contain both nature and built structures however the nature in them is not like how you would see it in maybe romantics. Usually in topographic the plants appear to be muted no colourful flower or super green grass its normally kind of muted.
where did it start
These images tend to really contrast romanticism paintings which wasn’t much before this as this style grew popular in 1975 due to a exhibition called “Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape” where they were changing from more classical and stereotypically beautiful nature landscapes and moved more towards how people have changed our natural environment using both the good and the bad. This exhibition held by William Jenkins was said to have held 10 artists work around topography’s and they were Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel.
The Oxbow, View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm- Thomas Cole
Mobile Homes– Robert Adams
The main idea of this style of photography is a reaction to the war that had taken place in America and how it was effecting people the war effected people in many ways it ruined their economy for a while people were having top work too many hours just to be able to afford their basic necessities all because of inflation. There was then a very big and sudden rise of the population they were having too many people having children at one time. Then also because of everything that had happened the rise in mental health problems was big so many more had ptsd and so many more due to the war being split up from your family maybe family dying.
William Jenkins
William Jenkins is one of the most influential people in term of the topic of new Topographics he was the one who created the photography exhibition called New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape. This art show didn’t actually have the best reviews at the time it came out people were confused. These are said to be some things said about the exhibition at the time
- “I don’t like them—they’re dull and flat. There’s no people, no involvement, nothing.”
- “At first it’s stark nothing, but then you look at it, and it’s just about the way things are.”
- “I don’t like to think there are ugly streets in America, but when it’s shown to you—without beautification—maybe it tells you how much more we need here.”
