A Brief History of Photographic Art Movements Kim Taylor 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 $o%ld have infl%enced artistic photography" The early period of photography, photograph y, from from a&o%t 18'0 to 18(0 18 (0 tended to favo%r sharp images as the technology developed rapidly and the pioneers strove to create &etter and &etter tools" )e may call this *Straight * photography" +ts strictly representational, ta-en directly from nat%re and not manip%lated" The idea is to strive to$ard the most faithf%l rendition of $hats in front of the lens" Barbizon School .18'0/0 $as an association of 2rench landscape painters aro%nd the 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, orchestrated and 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 his Pictorial Effect in Photography .18(7, Photography .18(7, Henry Peach #o&inson %rged photographic artists to render the s%&5ect a little o%t of foc%s .as did 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 to mid 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
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&e in 18(<" +t foc%sed on the vis%al impressions of light and colo%r on o&5ects, % s%ally o%tside" Manet, #enoir, Monet, ;egas and Pissarro $ere ma5or e4ponents of the style" The first +mpressionist e4hi&ition $as held in the st%dio of the photographer =adar in 18'" Pictorialism developed in the 1880s as photography &egan to open %p to the masses $ith the first Koda- cameras from >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 style to 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%p re:%ired the stated &elief that photography $a s an art form" auvism .2rance c1700 e4tended +mpressionism, %sing &older colo%rs and painting spontaneo%sly, almost $ildly" >a%g%in and van >ogh $ere the &ridge &e t$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$ard more %r&an themes, similar to the American *Ash %an School * .1708/1718 of realistic inner/city painting" uturism .+taly, 1707/17'' >i%lio Bragaglia %sed m%litiple e4pos%re and time/lapse techni:%es to sho$ movement and dynamism in still photographs, as ill%strations of the machine/age 2%t%rist doctrine"
%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!/< $as a movement that follo$ed the great $ar and set a&o%t to dismantle tradition" Cne of the most important feat%res $as a d esire for the infl%ence of chance, of accident" Photo/collage $as %sed to create intellect%ally challenging a&s%rd non/images" Photograms $ere also created &y placing o&5ects directly on photographic paper and e4posing them directly" %onstructivism .#%ssia 171! and the Bauhaus .>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 $as a painter and photographer at the centre of this movement" Art &eco .170/<0 can &e considered a s%ccessor to Art =o%vea%, a highly commercial art movement that infl%enced all aspects of art and design" '() .17<, ?A 6d$ard )eston event%ally re5ected all forms of manip%lation in photography, moving to$ard a more nat%ral style" This gro%p $as formed in 17< &y, among others, )eston, Ansel Adams, +mogene 9%nningham, and )illard @an ;y-e" Photo*ournalism .170s )ith more porta&le cameras came more *street photography* $ith Henri 9artier/Bresson .*the decisive moment* advocating a snapshot style, Berenice A&&ot and Helen Devitt doc%mented =e$ or- 9ity" Cf co%rse photo5o%rnalism had &een carried on since the 18'0s &%t the $idespread %se of the style had to $ait for more porta&le cameras" Social &ocumentary .17<0s ?A )ith the great depression came the doc%mentation of the 2?A $ith ;orathea Dang and )al-er 6vans" Cf co%rse these themes had &een e4plored &efore and contin%e" Abstract Art )as said to &e originated &y the 64pressionist painter )assily Kandins-y 5%st &efore the ?econd )orld )ar" Many of the 6%ropean A&stract artists moved to the ?A after the $ar, these incl%ded Ma4 6rnst, Marcel ;%champ and Marc 9hagall" Abstract #$pressionism .?A c17'0 emphasi3ed personal e4pression and spontaneo%s creation" ac-son Polloc- is pro&a&l y the &est -no$n artist of this movement" +n the 17!0s %olour iel! Painting arose $here&y large areas of colo%r are com&ined to prod%ce an effect in the vie$er" +inimalism .?A 17!0s advocates p%re, red%ced forms and strict systematic
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 so the tiny image is in sight" Pop Art .17!0s Britain and ?A %ses and appropriates the images and techni:%es of commercial 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 art o&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%s historical infl%ence of painting on photography &ecomes o&vio%s"
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