The Art of Photography

1. The Art of Photography FYS 100 -- Creative Discovery in Digital Art Forms Spring 2002

2. The Pioneers • The forerunner of the camera was the camera obscura. • Nicéphore Niepce (an amateur inventor) made the first successful photograph in 1827, a heliograph on pewter. • Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (a professional scene painter) formed a partnership with Niepce and improved upon his techniques using a plate of iodized silver exposed to mercury vapor, reducing exposure times to 30 minutes.

3. The Pioneers • After Niepce’s death, Daguerre improved the technique, calling it the daguerrotype. • William Henry Fox Talbot, a scientist from Cambridge University, independently invented his own photographic process using light sensitive paper. • Daguerrotypes were clearer but could not be duplicated.

4. First Criticism • Photography was immediately compared to painting and drawing. • It could give incredible detail to a picture with much less effort. • Initially, it was not possible to capture motion and color. • Some saw photography as a shortcut to art. It was no longer necessary to study perspective, optics, etc.

5. Recognition of Photography as Art • Photographic societies were formed, made up of both professionals and amateurs. For example, in 1853 the Photographic Society, which later became the Royal Photographic Society, was founded in London. • The Société Française de Photographie was founded in Paris in 1854.

6. Early Notions of Photography as Art • Early attempts to establish photography as art emphasized altering the photograph beyond what the lens captured. • More than one negative could be combined into one picture – for example, “The Two Ways of Life” by Oscar G. Rejlander, 1857. • Scenes were intentionally thrown out of focus. • Pictures were liberally retouched.

7. Schools or Styles of Photography • Historical • Mathew Brady’s scenes of the Civil War • Portraiture • Landscape • Timothy H. O’Sullivan’s scenes of the Southwest • Naturalistic • A reaction against artificiality. Peter Henry Emerson in Naturalistic Photography (1889) advocated a return to natural subjects and a more natural approach to the camera and photographic processing.

8. Advancement of Photography as an Art in its Own Right • The Brotherhood of the Linked Ring was founded in London in 1892. It emphasized the pictorial rather than the mechanical aspect of photography. • The Photo-Secession group was founded in the United States in 1902 by Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz was a proponent of naturalistic photography. • Camera Work was published four times a year from 1903-1917 by Stieglitz (50 issues). • Paul Strand combined realistic subjects with more attention to form. • Ansel Adams put his focus on nature.

9. Influence of Abstract Art • Camera-less photographs, or “photograms,” were created by placing three-dimensional objects on photgraphic paper and exposing them to light. • Artists experimented with negatives, X-rays, and ultra-high speed photographs in an abstract style.

10. Photomontage • Photomontage combined photographs with watercolor paintings and other media. • Violent contrasts in scale, perspective, and subject matter were used – substituting machine parts for human organs, cropping heads and bodies, and other shock effects.

11. Documentary Photography • Eugene Atget (in the late 1890’s) produced around 10,000 photographs of Paris and the vacinity – straightforward and poetic. • Often, documentary photography illustrated the plight of the poor, as in the work of Jacob A. Riis, a police reporter in NYC, who crusaded on behalf of poor immigrants. • The suffering of the Depression era was documented by numerous photographers in the 1930’s.

12. Photojournalism • The invention of the Emranox in 1924 and the Leica 1925 led to a new era in photojournalism. The cameras were small and needed only short exposure times, allowing for more candid shots. • As opposed to the unobtrusive miniature camera used by the Germans, Life and Look used large format cameras requiring slow lenses to get pictures of greater sharpness and depth. They also experimented with different flashes for different lighting effects.

13. Photojournalism • German magazines like Weekly Illustrated and Picture Post preferred available-light shots, giving a more natural look. • Some photographers at Life (e.g., Leonard McCombe) adopted this style. • Photojournalists prided themselves in an ability to capture a decisive moment and compose a picture instantaneously.

14. Color Photography • When color photography was not available, artists were sometimes asked to hand-tint daguerrotypes or copy photographs onto canvas where they were painted in oils. • The first practical color photography process was introduced in France in 1907 by August and Louis Lumière.

15. Trends in Artistic Photography • One view – the art of photography should be based on the unique qualities of photography and the use of the camera. • Another view – photography should be blended with other media. • Another view – the focus in artistic photography should be on the subject matter, emotions, and meaning behind the pictures

16. Emphasis on Meaning • Stieglitz and his followers emphasized content and meaning. • Following in this vein, Minor White, founder of Aperture magazine, argued that a photograph should be able to uncover an inner message not viewable on the mere surface. (See Mirrors, Messages, and Manifestations, a collection of photographs published in 1970.)

17. Photography for Social Commentary • Photographers like Robert Frank, Bruce Davidson, and William Klein made photography a form of social commentary. • They and others photographed the problems of urban life and poverty, the bombings in World War II, night life in Paris, etc.