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:
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Paul Strand, Wall Street, 1915
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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.
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| László Moholy-Nagy, Laboratory, 1938 |
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