a brief history of photographic art movements

8/9/2019 A Brief History of Photographic Art Movements

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A Brief History of Photographic Art

Movements

Kim Taylor for 180 degree imaging© 180 degree imaging, 00!" All #ights #eserved"

The follo$ing is a simple chronology of art movements $hich $ere directly associated

$ith, or $o%ld have infl%enced artistic photography"

The early period of photography, from a&o%t 18'0 to 18(0 tended to favo%r sharpimages as the technology developed rapidly and the pioneers strove to create &etter

and &etter tools" )e may call this *Straight* photography" +ts strictly representational,

ta-en directly from nat%re and not manip%lated" The idea is to strive to$ard the mostfaithf%l rendition of $hats in front of the lens"

Barbizon School .18'0/0 $as an association of 2rench landscape painters aro%ndthe village of Bar&i3on $ho painted directly from nat%re" Their style $o%ld have

appealed to the early art photographers $ith their need for long e4pos%res, &right light

and immo&ile s%&5ects"

Naturalism or "straight photography" By the late 1800s photographers $ere doing

m%ch more $ith the photographic negative and its print than $as ever possi&le $ith

the deg%arrotype and Peter Henry 6merson, as an e4ponent of nat%ralism in photography felt it necessary to define the *proper* photograph as the prod%ction of

faithf%lly acc%rate and %naltered images of nat%re" 6merson had a years/long de&ate

$ith Henry Peach #o&inson a&o%t the %ses of photography, $ith his *straight*

photography in direct opposition to #o&insons more caref%lly planned, orchestratedand often m%ltiple/negative images"

+n 1871 6merson seemed to despair of the limitations of photographic development

and decided that photography $o%ld forever remain a minor art &eca%se it co%ld not &e

manip%lated at $ill"

)ith his Pictorial Effect in Photography .18(7, Henry Peach #o&inson %rged

photographic artists to render the s%&5ect a little o%t of foc%s .as did 6merson, to

st%dy the great $or-s of art and to apply them to their photographs" +n this $ay the photographer $o%ld &ecome less a chemical and optical technician and more an artist"

These $or-s $ere li-ely infl%enced &y s%ch art movements as Romanticism .early tomid 1800s, the pre-Raphealites .6ngland 18'8 and the Symbolists .2rance1880/

70" %lia Margret 9ameron $as especially noted for depicting soft foc%s themes from

the &i&le, $ith mysterio%s lighting"

The photographers of this era $ere %sing m%ltiple printing techni:%es to create

montage images to achieve their painterly effects" +n ret%rn, the pre/#aphealite


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painters $ere %sing photographs as inspiration or models in their o$n $or-"

Impressionism .2rance $as said to &egin $ith Manets famo%s ;e5e%ner s%r lher&ein 18(eorge 6astman" The Pictorialists strove to go

&eyond the clinical, foc%sed detail of the photograph, &eyond the *snapshot* to invo-e

feeling, a mood or an atmosphere in the print" They copied the compositions of

modern paintings and manip%lated the print" The movement lasted almost '0 years"The s%&5ect matter $as often peasant life and landscapes"

Pointilism .2rance 1880s %sed small da&s of p%re colo%r $hich mi4 in the eye of the

vie$er to prod%ce the image" The temptation to spec%late on the similarity of this styleto the grains of silver $hich prod%ce a photograph is great"

Art Nouveau .2rance 1880/1710 $as a highly decorative style of art dedicated to

nat%ral forms" +t $as $idespread and highly commercial"

The Line! Ring .187/1707 $as formed &y the Pictorialist photographer >eorge;avidson in 6ngland along $ith other mem&ers of the #oyal Photographic ?ociety

$ho o&5ected to the more technical emphasis of the ?ociety" The first mem&ers

incl%ded %lia Margret 9ameron and Henry Peach #o&inson" Mem&ership in the gro%pre:%ired the stated &elief that photography $as an art form"

auvism .2rance c1700 e4tended +mpressionism, %sing &older colo%rs and paintingspontaneo%sly, almost $ildly" >a%g%in and van >ogh $ere the &ridge &et$een

+mpressionism and 2a%vism .they are sometimes called post-impressionists $hile

Matisse, ;erain, de@laminch and others carried it for$ard"

#$pressionism .>ermany, 170!/! arose at the same time as 2a%vism and %sed

emphasis and distortion to create an emotional response" 9onsider the distorted n%des

of ;riti-ol and Kertes3 from the 0s"

The Photo Succession .?A Alfred ?teiglit3 .along $ith 6d$ard ?teichen formed

the Photo ?%ccession in 170 in =9 as a Pictorial gro%p" He later moved to$ardmore %r&an themes, similar to the American *Ash %an School* .1708/1718 of

realistic inner/city painting"

uturism .+taly, 1707/17'' >i%lio Bragaglia %sed m%litiple e4pos%re and time/lapse

techni:%es to sho$ movement and dynamism in still photographs, as ill%strations of

the machine/age 2%t%rist doctrine"


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%ubism .6%rope c1710 arose 5%st &efore ))+ and is characterised &y a red%ction of

the image to geometrical forms and m%ltiple vie$points"

&a!a .>ermany 171!/ermany cele&rated the machine in

a&stract photographs, creating art for the ind%strial age, a %tilitarian art" The paintings

$ere created %sing strict mathematical and technical principles"

Surrealism .2rance c170 aimed to e4plore the %nconscio%s, %sing %ne4pected

5%4tapositions of o&5ects and spontaneo%s techni:%e" Andre Breton p%&lished the

Manifesto in 17' that esta&lished the &asis of the movement" Man #ay $as a painter

and photographer at the centre of this movement"

Art &eco .170/


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compositions" The relevence of this movement to the modern *th%m&nail* gallery

display of photographs is stri-ing, $ith spare, %ncomplicated and highly compositional

images &eing more li-ely to attract the vie$ers attention d%ring the half second or sothe tiny image is in sight"

Pop Art .17!0s Britain and ?A %ses and appropriates the images and techni:%es ofcommercial arts, pop%lar c%lt%re and especially advertising" Andy )arhol, #ay

Dichtenstein and #o&ert #a%chen&erg are -ey fig%res in this movement" Pop art is said

to &e a reaction to the A&stract Art movement and it very conscio%sly tears do$n the &arriers &et$een fine art and commercial art $hich $ere perhaps erected as early as

18'0 as a reaction to photography, the %ltimate commercial art tool" A meas%re of ho$

far/reaching the pop art movement is, might &e the placement of fashion photography

in m%se%ms"

,p Art .mid !0s $as a short/lived movement $hich pea-ed the 170s, %sing

geometric pattern and design to prod%ce an optical effect" The most $ell/-no$n artist

is @asarely"

%onceptual Art developed in the 17(0s and aims to emphasi3e the idea over the arto&5ect" This is to free the artist from the gallery" 9oncept%al art is of co%rse tied

intimately $ith photography since the concept%al art performance leaves no o&5ect and

th%s m%st &e doc%mented &y photography" This &egs the :%estion of co%rse of $hether

or not the photograph +? the o&5ect of the art"

Photorealism or superrealism .late 17(0s aims to prod%ce photograph/li-e paintings

and sc%lpt%re" The infl%ence of photography on painting as $ell as the more o&vio%shistorical infl%ence of painting on photography &ecomes o&vio%s"

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a brief history of photographic art movements

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