Below are a list of things, websites, and books that I am going to look at to get research to write this essay.
- Mary Warner Marien
- Paul Strand
- Edward Weston's website
- Newspaper articles
- the University website
- Museum of Modern Art
Monday, 30 January 2017
Essay Research
For my essay, I am focusing on straight photography and the approach Paul Strand and Edward Weston had with objectivity within their work.
Below are a list of things, websites, and books that I am going to look at to get research to write this essay.
Below are a list of things, websites, and books that I am going to look at to get research to write this essay.
Lecture 4: New and Old Worlds
In today's lecture we learnt about photography and modernism within America and Europe.
Many photographers started working as a modernist photographer which then became known as straight photographer.
"As the years went on, more photographers started working in this style; Paul Strand, Edward Weston, and the Group f/64. The work is brutally direct. Devoid of all film-flam; devoid of trickery and of any 'ism'; devoid of any attempt to mystify an ignorant public, including the photographers themselves. These photographs are a direct expression of today. We have reproduced them in all their brutality." A quote from Alfred Stieglitz regarding Paul Strand's work.
From 1880 to 1950, photography was 'modern', all about framing, composition, and selection, which made the images look almost superficial and documentary, which is what the style aimed for.
Example:
Aleksandr Rodchenko was a photographer that focused on modernism within the Russian Revolution.
American Modernism
We first started off with America and Alfred Stieglitz who in 1910 staged a retrospective of pictorialism. During this year, Stieglitz promotes a modernist photography style which was known as Straight photography. This style was to be documentary and factual, no manipulation added to the photographs.Many photographers started working as a modernist photographer which then became known as straight photographer.
"As the years went on, more photographers started working in this style; Paul Strand, Edward Weston, and the Group f/64. The work is brutally direct. Devoid of all film-flam; devoid of trickery and of any 'ism'; devoid of any attempt to mystify an ignorant public, including the photographers themselves. These photographs are a direct expression of today. We have reproduced them in all their brutality." A quote from Alfred Stieglitz regarding Paul Strand's work.
From 1880 to 1950, photography was 'modern', all about framing, composition, and selection, which made the images look almost superficial and documentary, which is what the style aimed for.
Example:
 |
Paul Strand, Wall Street, 1915
|
Modernism was self consciously rejected in the past as a model for the art of the present and was associated with the ideal visions of the human life and society.
European Modernism
European modernism was known as the 'New Vision' which developed after World War I. There was a significant exhibition in 1929 called Film and Foto which included amateur work which did not just show photography but its place in society.
The New Vision was based on optical science and objectivity which gave awareness to what the camera can do, different perspectives, unlike the human eye.
Aleksandr Rodchenko was a photographer that focused on modernism within the Russian Revolution.
The key differences between US and EU Modernism:
US: modernism was quite narrow, formal, and fine art
EU: more cultural, and socially progressive.
 |
| László Moholy-Nagy, Laboratory, 1938 |
Thursday, 26 January 2017
Lecture 7: Analysing Photographs - The Ideology of Images
During today's lecture we learnt about John Berger and Susan Sontag and their ideology of photographs. I really enjoyed learning about Berger and Sontag and their books.
John Berger, (1926-2017), wrote in his book, Ways of Seeing, how men and women are perceived in photographs. He also focuses on the relationship between seeing and knowing.
In his chapter 1: Seeing and Knowing, Berger notes how the way we see things is affected by what we know and what we believe. This happens through every picture that we see, it is affected by our current knowledge.
We also only choose what we look at according to Berger, and what we see is a choice of what the photographer wants us to see.
During chapter 3 of Ways of Seeing, John Berger focuses on the ideologies of gender in art. Two quotes in the book...
These quotes are from 1972, and they are still true today in 2017. Women are presented in photographs to appeal to men and be a sexual object to be admired. Men are the opposite, they are allowed to appear strong, and have money.
Susan Sontag, (1933-2004), has a book called On Photography (1977). She addressed the problems that both aesthetic and moral posed by the omnipresence of photographed images.
Sontag she thinks that
John Berger, (1926-2017), wrote in his book, Ways of Seeing, how men and women are perceived in photographs. He also focuses on the relationship between seeing and knowing.
In his chapter 1: Seeing and Knowing, Berger notes how the way we see things is affected by what we know and what we believe. This happens through every picture that we see, it is affected by our current knowledge.
We also only choose what we look at according to Berger, and what we see is a choice of what the photographer wants us to see.
During chapter 3 of Ways of Seeing, John Berger focuses on the ideologies of gender in art. Two quotes in the book...
- “A man’s presence is dependent upon the promise of power which he embodies. The promised power may be moral, physical, temperamental, economic, social, sexual - but its object is always exterior to the man. A man’s presence suggests what he is capable of doing to you or for you.
- ‘A woman’s presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her. Her presence is manifest in her gestures, voice, opinions, expressions, clothes, chosen surroundings, taste - indeed there is nothing she can do which does not contribute to her presence.”
Susan Sontag, (1933-2004), has a book called On Photography (1977). She addressed the problems that both aesthetic and moral posed by the omnipresence of photographed images.
Sontag she thinks that
Sunday, 22 January 2017
More Than Looking 3
During this seminar, we looked over a range of photographers photographs and answer the questions we were given.
Paul Strand was up first and I came up with:
Cindy Sherman was the last photograph we looked at and we had to answer questions 6 and 7 about it:add
Paul Strand was up first and I came up with:
- What was your first impression of this image i.e. you gut feeling or reaction? The washing has just been done
- What sense can you draw on to understand this image, do smell, taste, touch, sound, or vision feature somehow in this image? The wind, fresh
- What might have happened just before or after this image was taken? The washing has just been hung up by the owner.
- What fundamental components is the photographer drawing on, e.g line, shape, form, shadow, movement, etc? shadows, lines, movements, contrast
- What is the photographers intention? American Straight, high crane shot, challenges perspective
- Describe what is happening in this photograph, what it says about the subject/content, and if you think the photographer was 'successful'? In the photograph, there is washing hung out in somebodies backyard. There are leading lines that run throughout the photograph, with a range of tones.
-
Gregory Crewdson was next
- What was your first impression of this image i.e. you gut feeling or reaction? She was caught doing something - shock, shame
- What sense can you draw on to understand this image, do smell, taste, touch, sound, or vision feature somehow in this image? The engine, dropped shopping, fumes, shouting/discussion
- What might have happened just before or after this image was taken? The girl in the underwear has just ran out of the window/house, ran away from something that has just happened
- What fundamental components is the photographer drawing on, e.g line, shape, form, shadow, movement, etc? Crewdson is using the form of shadow and positioning to create this photograph, with the back of the female in her underwear and the reactions on the other two faces. The lighting is also casting a shadow in the frame.
- What is the photographers intention? The Crewdson's intentions are to possibly to provoke a reaction from the viewer and to create a sense of mystery in the photography.
6. Describe what is happening in this photograph, what it says about the subject/content, and if you think the photographer was 'successful'? In the photograph there is a woman standing in the kitchen, looking shocked/suspiciously over her shoulder, whilst her arm is lying over her stomach which could indicate either a sick feeling, wanting to cry, hurt, or pregnant.
7. Create a narrative based on this image, a short story based on the image as a starting point. The woman is pregnant and whilst doing the dishes at the sink, she is having a conversation with her partner who doesn't know the news. The partner is quite aggressive as she is appearing to look timid.
Saturday, 14 January 2017
Lecture 6: Social Documentary and Street Photography
The Politics of the Pictures
The camera was seen as a tool that was to photograph authenticity and according to Susan Sontag, 'appropriate the thing photographed'. This is how social documentary and street photography was during the 1870's when it became a way of shooting. It gave the raw insight into what it was like to live in those conditions during this time.
John Thomson, a street photographer, and Adolphe Smith, a writer, worked together during 1870's going around London photographing scenes that showed life in London. Although, some disagree that they are documentary as some photographs were staged. The middle class photographer interacting with the poor to get to know them and show the class difference.
Jacob Riis was another documentary style photographer who worked closely with his subjects, going inside there homes and showing living conditions there during the late 1800's. Riis divided the poor into two categories; the deserving of assistance, who consisted of mostly women and children, and the undeserving, who were the unemployed and intractably criminal.
Riis did not compose his photographs unlike Thomson, but he did use the newly invented flash powered, which allowed him to light up a dark room to be able to take his photographs. Using this technique also washed out some of the detail in the photographs, and due to the harsh light, the subject's reactions to it would be change.
As the new century rolled in, Lewis Hine became known for his social documentary photography which exposed awful conditions for the working class. Young children in the Cotton Mill, young boys coming up from being in the Mine, covered head to toe in dirt, and the Men at Work, which shows the dangers that these people were put in. Due to the conditions that Hine's work was showing, people began to have a problem with it therefore Hine had to be more discreet about his work. The objectivity of his work was to show the dreadful conditions that child labours were put through and to try and hopefully make a change to this.
Another five documentary photographers included Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks. Russell Lee, and Arthur Rothstein.
Evans' work consisted around people, whether in front of the camera, or a sense of them having being there. A famous piece of Evans' work was Alabama Tenant Farmer's Wife, 1936.
Lange's most famous piece of work is called the Migrant Mother, 1936, which later for multiple purposes.
During the Great Depression, Rotherstein took two photographs of a Steer Skull, 1936, which when published was seen as problematic. After the first photograph had been taken, Rotherstein had moved the skull to another location within the area, giving it a different background which was seen as manipulated. Fleeing a Dust Storm, 1939, was another piece that Rotherstein recreated, which had to be done otherwise it (the dust storm) would have hurt and damaged the camera and people there.
British Social Documentary of the 1930s
Humphrey Spender's work of Bolton Work Town shows the class difference at the difference between them taking vs being photographed. - boltonworktown.co.uk
Bill Brandt is a German photographer who moved to the UL and created a book called 'The English Man at Home which also shows the class difference whilst the two are photographed.
Robert Frank, The Americans, wrote "I was tired of romanticism... I wanted to present what I saw, pure and simple." and he did, photographing people from different backgrounds.
The camera was seen as a tool that was to photograph authenticity and according to Susan Sontag, 'appropriate the thing photographed'. This is how social documentary and street photography was during the 1870's when it became a way of shooting. It gave the raw insight into what it was like to live in those conditions during this time.
John Thomson, a street photographer, and Adolphe Smith, a writer, worked together during 1870's going around London photographing scenes that showed life in London. Although, some disagree that they are documentary as some photographs were staged. The middle class photographer interacting with the poor to get to know them and show the class difference.
Jacob Riis was another documentary style photographer who worked closely with his subjects, going inside there homes and showing living conditions there during the late 1800's. Riis divided the poor into two categories; the deserving of assistance, who consisted of mostly women and children, and the undeserving, who were the unemployed and intractably criminal.
Riis did not compose his photographs unlike Thomson, but he did use the newly invented flash powered, which allowed him to light up a dark room to be able to take his photographs. Using this technique also washed out some of the detail in the photographs, and due to the harsh light, the subject's reactions to it would be change.
As the new century rolled in, Lewis Hine became known for his social documentary photography which exposed awful conditions for the working class. Young children in the Cotton Mill, young boys coming up from being in the Mine, covered head to toe in dirt, and the Men at Work, which shows the dangers that these people were put in. Due to the conditions that Hine's work was showing, people began to have a problem with it therefore Hine had to be more discreet about his work. The objectivity of his work was to show the dreadful conditions that child labours were put through and to try and hopefully make a change to this.
Another five documentary photographers included Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks. Russell Lee, and Arthur Rothstein.
Evans' work consisted around people, whether in front of the camera, or a sense of them having being there. A famous piece of Evans' work was Alabama Tenant Farmer's Wife, 1936.
Lange's most famous piece of work is called the Migrant Mother, 1936, which later for multiple purposes.
During the Great Depression, Rotherstein took two photographs of a Steer Skull, 1936, which when published was seen as problematic. After the first photograph had been taken, Rotherstein had moved the skull to another location within the area, giving it a different background which was seen as manipulated. Fleeing a Dust Storm, 1939, was another piece that Rotherstein recreated, which had to be done otherwise it (the dust storm) would have hurt and damaged the camera and people there.
British Social Documentary of the 1930s
Humphrey Spender's work of Bolton Work Town shows the class difference at the difference between them taking vs being photographed. - boltonworktown.co.uk
Bill Brandt is a German photographer who moved to the UL and created a book called 'The English Man at Home which also shows the class difference whilst the two are photographed.
Robert Frank, The Americans, wrote "I was tired of romanticism... I wanted to present what I saw, pure and simple." and he did, photographing people from different backgrounds.
Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Lecture 5: PostModernism and Photography
Postmodernism and Photography
Modernism photography is usually referred to the works that were produced during the period of 1870 to 1970. Within them 100 years, modernism changed and they began using new materials and new techniques. It wasn't just an art movement, it was a philosophy and ideology that spread through all creative aspects of the art world, including literature, music, and more.
Key characteristics of Modernism are the purity of form which Paul Strand used with his photographs to show abstraction and asymmetry. The artist's vision is seen through the art work created.
Postmodernism became known after 1970 which was used to talk about changes which were seen taking place in Western culture from the 1960s+.
I was a reaction to modernist ideas and it began with pop art, for example Robert Rauschenberg who embraced movements through this style of work.
The key characteristics of postmodernism is that there is no boundary between art and everyday life and there is no single style or definition of what art should be.
The End of Art
Andy Warhol discovered that anything can become art. This removed any boundaries that people once thought there was and allows artists to experiment and allow more creative ideas into the world of 'art'. Hybrid forms were created and this meant that people could work with different mediums. For example, artists like Gerhard Richter used different mediums to create similar pieces. Richter created an oil on canvas piece in 1995 and then went on to photograph an acted out version of his painting using oil on colour photograph (1999). Through the hybrid form, artists were allowed to do what they pleased within their work.
Modernism photography is usually referred to the works that were produced during the period of 1870 to 1970. Within them 100 years, modernism changed and they began using new materials and new techniques. It wasn't just an art movement, it was a philosophy and ideology that spread through all creative aspects of the art world, including literature, music, and more.
Key characteristics of Modernism are the purity of form which Paul Strand used with his photographs to show abstraction and asymmetry. The artist's vision is seen through the art work created.
Postmodernism became known after 1970 which was used to talk about changes which were seen taking place in Western culture from the 1960s+.
I was a reaction to modernist ideas and it began with pop art, for example Robert Rauschenberg who embraced movements through this style of work.
The key characteristics of postmodernism is that there is no boundary between art and everyday life and there is no single style or definition of what art should be.
The End of Art
Andy Warhol discovered that anything can become art. This removed any boundaries that people once thought there was and allows artists to experiment and allow more creative ideas into the world of 'art'. Hybrid forms were created and this meant that people could work with different mediums. For example, artists like Gerhard Richter used different mediums to create similar pieces. Richter created an oil on canvas piece in 1995 and then went on to photograph an acted out version of his painting using oil on colour photograph (1999). Through the hybrid form, artists were allowed to do what they pleased within their work.
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