What is the Romantism period? Where? How?

• The Romantic period began roughly around 1798 and lasted until 1837 (Peaked during 19th century/Times can be negotiable). During this period the political and economic atmosphere was heavily influenced, many writers finding inspiration from the French Revolution. It was a movement in the arts and literature, it was characterised by emotion and by imagination and by individualism (constant poetry of emotions/subjective own opinion/not factual).
• Other focuses in the Romantism era was an emphasis on nature, freedom of form and the exploration of the Gothic and unknown.
• The main idea of Romanticism is that it is the celebration/the movement (of the 18th and 19th centuries) of the individual, idealisation of women as well the emphasis of emotion and glorification of the past and present (medieval over classical).

Linking French Revolution with the Romantisism period

• It had a significant impact on on the work of romantic poets, it inspired the themes of of liberty, equality and individuality in their poetry
• The Revolutions ideals of freedom and social change resonated with the romantic movement, making them lead to themes of and exploring nature, rebellion and passion in their work.

Social Change

During this change many things happened like:

• Calls for the abolition of slavery became louder and there was a lot more writing that was open about their objections.
• People moved away from the countryside and farmland and into the cities after the Agricultural Revolution.
• Where the Industrial Revolution provided jobs as well as technological innovations that after would spread onto the US in the 19th century, Romanticism was a reaction against this spread of industrialism.
• As well as the criticism of aristocratic and social norms (“ruling” social class) and a call for more attention to nature).

The Sublime

The sublime (from the Romantism era) in my opinion is the overwhelming feeling of awe mixed with terror in it’s most “fearsome”, as well as danger (Edmund Burke’s Philosophical Enquiry (1757)). Edmund saw “nature” as the “most sublime object, capable of generating the strongest sensations in its beholders”.

He was not the first philosopher to be intrigued and interested by the power/ complexity of the idea of the sublime but his account of it was very influential. Edmund broke the idea of the sublime down into seven aspects, all of which he argued were visible in the natural world and in natural phenomena:

Darkness – which constrains the sense of sight (primary among the five senses)
Obscurity – which confuses judgement
Privation (or deprivation) – since pain is more powerful than pleasure
Vastness – which is beyond comprehension
Magnificence – in the face of which we are in awe
Loudness – which overwhelms us
Suddenness – which shocks our sensibilities to the point of disablement

‘The sublime’ is many things: a judgement, a feeling, a state of mind and a kind of response to art or nature. By about 1700 an additional theme started developing, which was that sublime in writing, nature, art or in human conduct was regarded as of “such exalted status” that it was beyond normal experience, maybe even beyond the reach of understanding in human. As well as generally regarded as beyond comprehension and beyond measurement.

It has been long understood to mean “a quality of greatness or grandeur that inspires awe and wonder”.

Edmund thought that the ruling principle of the sublime was that “terror is in all cases whatsoever, either more openly or more hidden and not obvious in the moment”.

Theodore Rosseau- “In the 1820s he began to paint out-of-doors directly from nature, a novel procedure at that time.” (19th Century (1801-1900)).

Nicolas Poussin-“Poussin sketched in the Campagna, the countryside around Rome, with Claude, and from the late 1630s began to paint landscapes. He brought a powerful discipline to the composition of his paintings, which enhanced the solemnity of their subjects.” (17th Century (1601-1700)).

Ansel Adams-“After he received his first camera in 1916, Adams also proved to be a talented photographer. Throughout the 1920s, when he worked as the custodian of the Sierra Club’s lodge in Yosemite National Park, he created impressive landscape photographs.” (20th Century (1901-2000)).

Albrecht Altdorfer-“Altdorfer’s piece, Landscape with footbridge (1517-1520), is attributed as the first pure landscape piece in oil, done in a style he developed from Cranach.” (16th Century (1501-1600)).

Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes-“The present writer and others have suggested that during the 1781-1782 encounter, Vernet introduced Valenciennes to the practice of painting landscape oil studies in the open air. (18th Century 1701-1800)).

JMW Turner was an English Romantic era landscape painter whose “expressionistic studies of light, colour and atmosphere where unmatched in their range and sublimity”.

JMV Turner’s became known as ‘the painter of light’, because of his increasing interest in brilliant colours as the main constituent in his landscapes and seascapes. His works including water colours, oils and engravings. JMV Turner was born near Covent Garden in London and entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1789.

Landscape

Landscape can be described as ‘the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal’. The term “landscape” comes from/derives from the Dutch word landschap, which originally meant “region, tract of land” but got the artistic connotation, “a picture depicting scenery on land” in the early 1500s. Landscape, like photography, is a relatively modern idea.

The meaning of landscape is the visible features of land, it’s landforms and how they integrate with natural or human made features.

16th Century

Landscape painting was only officially considered as an independent genre in the 16th century.

Landscape as an “independent genre did not emerge in the Western tradition and culture until the Renaissance in the 16th century”. Earlier work of Albrecht Altdorfer can be see during this period. –

Altdorfer’s piece, Landscape with footbridge (1517-1520), is attributed as the first pure landscape piece in oil, done in a style he developed from Cranach.” (16th Century (1501-1600)).

17th Century

Classical Landscapes emerged as a genre in the 17th century.

These landscapes were influenced by classical antiquity and sought to illustrate an ideal landscape recalling Arcadia, a legendary place in ancient Greece known for its quiet pastoral beauty.

Nicolas Poussin was a prominent Classical Landscape artist-“Poussin sketched in the Campagna, the countryside around Rome, and from the late 1630s began to paint landscapes. He brought a powerful discipline to the composition of his paintings, which enhanced the solemnity of their subjects.” (17th Century (1601-1700)).

Late 18th/19th Century

Landscape paintings it eventually gained the prominence in the late 18th century with the rise of Romanticism. These artists sought to celebrate nature over industrialisation and emotion over reason. They often depicted landscapes to show an appreciation for natural landscapes, away from urban expansion and industrialisation.

Theodore Rosseau- “In the 1820s he began to paint out-of-doors directly from nature, a novel procedure at that time.” (19th Century (1801-1900)).

JMW Turner was an English Romantic landscape painter whose “expressionistic studies of light, colour and atmosphere where unmatched in their range and sublimity”.

JMV Turner’s became known as ‘the painter of light’, because of his increasing interest in brilliant colours as the main constituent in his landscapes and seascapes. His works including water colours, oils and engravings. JMV Turner was born near Covent Garden in London and entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1789.

Photography

Though the earliest evidence of landscape photography was taken between the years 1826 and 1827, it was an urban landscape photo taken by a French inventor by the name Nicephore Niepce.

Around the mid nineteenth century, the invention of photography revealed that cultures were prepared to form knowledge, beliefs and fantasies through optical and reproducible images. During this time, industrialisation began a process of changing where people lived, according to how people worked.

Within such broad change, more specifically, economically advanced industrial nations, railways introduced unmatched speed of travel and early forms of international tourism developed. Images from distant places influenced how familiar places came to be depicted.

As processes of work and travel altered through modernisation/distance began to characterise human relations to place. Land became increasingly perceived as landscape, and landscape increasingly encountered as picture. Photographs became established amidst a variety of forms of landscape pictures.

HDR in images:

These landscape images are enhanced with HDR (High-Dynamic-Range imaging) using a tripod to taken in a steady photograph and include many of the wonders presented on the image such as the the sunset the different autumn coloured trees, the pink toned and shadowed rocks to the reflected lake in the centre and general middle of the photograph.

The tripod holding the camera in place will ensure that the photographer will be able to use the lowest ISO and a proper aperture to capture everything you need presented in focus (The shutter speed doesn’t matter for HDR photos unless you want specifically to create a much longer exposure). The HDR setting is useful when you can have difficulty/trouble balancing a photo’s light.

It is obviously used to and designed to capture high-contrast scenes and bringing them to ours eyes more convincingly.

Questions to consider?

• How successful were my final outcomes?
• Did I realise my intentions going forward?
• What refernces did I make to artist references- ( commenting on technical, visual, contextual,, conceptual?)
• Is there anything I would do differently/change etc.

I believe that my final outcomes were successful. The parts of the project especially Masculinity and Femininity that I enjoyed was bring able to be creative and experiment with the playing around with photographs/ideas such as using the mirror, playing around with hair and experimenting what bit of the human skin and body can be considered to be more masculine and feminine and taking close up shots of elements specific to that.

I realised my intentions going forward and the motive that I was going for, I wanted each photoshoot to focus on individual parts that we consider more or less feminine or masculine.

Reference to artist references that I have made in my photoshoots have been Cindy Sherman where I have followed and took inspiration from her work and specifically inside the house photographs representing a housewife aesthetic. As well as taking photographs of Cindy Sherman I took photographs inspired by Lauren Withrow where she took field-like photographs of the subject and mysterious like images with themes of secrecy, abandonment and confusion.

One of the challenges that I faced in this project was timing and lighting. I believe that if I spent more time on the photoshoots and looked more specifically at the setting of the camera/how to make the photographs appear more intense and change the background inside the studio-like photographs in some of the photoshoots I think there would be more appealing approach towards my outcome of photographs.

Another aspect were I could have improved in my photoshoots is the blurriness in some of my photographs. I could have looked back on my photographs, see what didn’t work well specifically in what background did the blurriness occur/did it ruin the photograph or appear better with the rest of the photographs/if it pairs well.

• My final outcomes very successful in my opinion as they came how I wanted them too. I’m especially proud of the first edit despite it looking simple yet complex at the same time due to the collision and blending of the “housewife” photographs and look at the darker sinister yet troubled feeling behind the final outcome with the black and white. I decided to use both the masculine (focus on skin and body) and focus on the traditional female housewife in 1950-60s in the kitchen and how that plays a part with the subject looking upset, innocent and fragile.

• My intention with this photograph above was looking at Cindy Sherman’s photographs including her vulnerability and angles that she used in her photographs and her “untitled still life” work and adapted it into my work and the way I decide to position my camera.

• In these photographs I decided to focus on the different lighting techniques such as split lighting, butterfly/loop, rembrandt. I looked at my headshots and other studio photographs and chose my best one and the ones a think look the brightest and most creative and yet simple. I included my remembrandt bright photograph that I think looks sweet and minimalistic, that it emphasis even more the apples in her cheeks. In the centre photograph I included one of my edits of the “disguise-like ” covered hands photoshop editing. I believe it looks creative and interesting like a hand in motion type of story, how the hands looked being covered over the eyes vs how they look moved away from the face.
• In the third photograph I included the subject with half the face being covered with the light (split lighting). I think it looks sinister and appealing to the audience as the subject appears to be smiling at the lens so it gives it a more uncomforting sense to the image.

• In these environmental portraits I included two female works both in selling items to consumers but different environments. I realised my intentions with the photographs and photoshoot, I intended to make the workers the main and centre body of the image as they made it a whole as without the subject the background body of the photograph would only be an “environment” not “environmental portrait”. I wanted the photographs to look positive and not complex to understand for the audience so therefore the mugs in the first picture especially with the colourful background meant that the audience knew that the “environmental portrait” made sense with “pottery” and the element of painting and creativity in that specific place of work. Whereas the lady subject on the right had being selling knitting and different types of yarn ,I positioned the individual with the item therefore being able to deliver the message and understanding to the audience.

• For my presentation of final outcomes I decided to put my edited images of masculine & feminine portraits, a couple of the different lighting techniques I experimented with and some of my environmental portraits in a “virtual gallery”.
• For the first virtual gallery I chose to present my virtual gallery with my four monochrome Cindy Sherman inspired photographs. I chose to put a slight black border around the image and a very slight drop shadow to present the effect as a “shadow” of the photograph “border”.

• In this photoshoot, I focused on producing photographs inspired by the ideas and features of stereotypical and general make/masculine bodies and outlooks. Whether that is a pose or body art I decided to include it in my work. I took photographs highlighting the muscular parts of a male body and or experimented/played around with poses the male subject felt comfortable with (UFC Face-Offs).
• One aspect that I would have changed in my opinion would have been the lighting in the photographs as many of the photographs have a black/generally dark background so therefore I would change that so that the editing of the photographs would be easier to modify like the levels as the photographs are already dark enough. Creating a brighter/lighter atmosphere would ensure that the photographs are easier to edit and therefore look better/ more presentable, the subject looks more focused and important.

• In these specific photographs, I decided to focus on the subject’s defined features like muscle and especially flexing something that can be specifically connected with masculinity and the themes of power, strength, and force. For all three of these photographs presented above I edited and modeled in black and white for the centered body part to be even more defined and structured as I believe these tones paired well together in the monochromatic style.

• In these photographs, I presented a less formal approach and decided to play around with the position of my subjects in the photographs, and considering both the subjects are male I s]wanted them to feel what they felt most comfortable doing.
• Overall I wanted both subjects side by side representing the difference in head and structure, for example, if the male subject has broader shoulders or not (something that can be described/thought of as more of a masculine feature)

• In these two photographs, the image is taken from a closer perspective of the subject. The features of a masculine-like body can be presented again as Adam’s apple is presented as well. This particular feature is more prominent in male bodies and the “thyroid cartilage”. Therefore the recognisable Adams apple can be recognized as a more male-like attribute and something to bring attention to.

• In this photograph the subjects are presented opposing each other, as mentioned before at the beginning the subjects are in a similar position as a UFC face-off. Despite the positioning not being formal, I believe this positioning can represent this childlike boyhood playfulness and immaturity coming from two teenage boy subjects with bright and cheerful facial expressions.

• In these three photographs presented, I wanted to include and compose basic close-up portraits of the male subject. I wanted the photographs to focus solely on the subject and to look formal and somewhat strong through the stare in the camera, through the side profile emphasizing a masculine jawline, and once again Adam’s apple making an appearance. In the last photograph from the right the subject appears to look smiley and breaks the contrast from an intense glare/ confident approach towards the photograph, though the subject doesn’t have the stereotypical and sturdy look of a masculine-like individual, the photograph still presents an open display of emotions (something that may have been demonstrated less in photography a couple of decades ago).

In this photoshoot I focused on taking photographs with the femininity outlook and played around with props and item such as e.g. perfume and makeup. My subject experimented with this “girly” outlook and how it can come across as being soft, playful and appear bubbly like. I also looked at perfume and specially female advertisements and how they appeared to look like with the perfume bottle, on some of my photographs these ideologies and experiments can be presented.

The things at work well in the photoshoot was that I knew what I wanted to photograph and how, I knew how I wanted to position the subject in front of the lens with the prop, as well as the subject in front of the mirror and from what angles would look good to appear well in the lens. The vision I had for the photographs was accurately translated I would say.

If I were to change anything in the photoshoot I would add a white background/backdrop to contrast with the individual as most of the photos can appear quite dark. Other than that I would say that the photographs worked well and that I could have increased the ISO so the photographs and in general appeared brighter. Something else that I would have included if I had thought more broader about the photoshoot would have been too included more items that were feminine like and potentially included items that appeared more masculine like and create that diversity between the subject itself in the photographs and the item that they are positioned with or holding.

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• In this first photoshoot I focused on taking photographs centralised on females and the female body/features, things that can be considered more feminine like and more stereotypical. We used different lightning to contrast and to play around with the differences and how to highlight different elements to make them much more vibrant and bold.

• In this photo shoot, I focused on emphasizing and including the different features of the female body and general features that aren’t generally “highlighted” (in the photo and metaphorically). In the photograph, the chest and lower stomach are emphasized with the bright blue lighting presented in the specific area. This bright blue lighting can alternately show thoughts of the stereotypical outlook on gender with colors of pink being used for females and blue for boys, this contrast between the harsh and brightly lit blue lighting being emphasized on a female body, especially on more highlighted parts linking to femininity and feminine insecurities creates this collision between feminity and masculinity. This collision presents the differences that can be shown in both genders and makes these “binary opposites” more understood.

• The three photographs above all present the model’s skin and different textures of skin presented under different angles, different lighting, and different positions. I believe the photographs add even more under the term femininity as many females would be uncomfortable and less likely to present their stomach so freely and unde “harsh” and “unflattering” lighting as it is uncommon in this day and age for “uncomplimentary” photographs to be shown so freely publicly due to feminine insecurities and personal problems and issues with young girls bodies and the way they are portrayed.

• In the photographs above the model is positioned in a “masculine-like” way, this term can be described as “man’s spreading” typically done and presented on a male body and approach, this gender identity can opposed where the female subject performs this with her body highlighting this opposition, as well as the lighting and “contrast” as the two similar photographs appear to have a bitter tone of red on the face. The subject puts on a “fearless” and bold/brave face as the light appears more red-toned but as the photograph appears darker and bluer on the right the subject looks more relaxed, joyful, and bubbly. The variation between the lighting and how it can affect the way a person can be influenced to “behave” and “look the part” can show links between strength vs weakness as the different lighting can change whether an individual “looks” more intimidating yet “stronger”.

• In these photographs, the subject is another female recreating similar outlooks from before. The difference between the red and blue pairs well together especially in the second photograph when there is a clear split between the tonalities. In the first photograph, the subject is smiling and appears very bubbly. This contrasts with the other subjects under similar outlooks but the other subjects looked in a more “masculine” and bolder way.

• In this photograph I positioned myself so my “hip dips” can be clearer to see and present. I made sure that they look highlighted behind the light and angled. I like how the colourful light looks and how it focuses on that specific part making it look important and the main symbol.

• In this photoshoot my friends and I took photos inspired by Cindy Sherman and her 1950s inspired housewife untitled stills. We created and took inspiration form Cindy Sherman when creating these photographs, by taking photos by the kitchen e.g floors, sinks, cabinets, stove or on the bed. Things that worked well in the photoshoot was taking photographs inspired on the bed and positioning the model similarly to how Cindy Sherman did in her own work.

• I tried recreating the crying/ physically abused Cindy Sherman untitled still by creating a makeup smeared appearance on myself and my other subject in the photograph below.

• I looked at her work and found the location to be similar e.g. bookcase. Many if not all Cindy Sherman’s photographs are in black and white with a slight orange/brown hue/photo filter to added to the old fashioned look.

• When choosing the subjects facial expressions in the photographs many of the Cindy Sherman’s look innocent, hurt, scare yet confused at the same time, I tried to recreate that in my photographs.

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