Photography and Early Art Is Photography Art ?

•  Photographers emulated themes of Painting •  !emes included: Landscape, Allegorical

costumed "gures, Still life, Nudes and Genre views.

•  Some photographers were content with the photographs graphic ability to render information and ideas.

•  Middle and other classes had the opportunity to experience images for the "rst time.

Photography and Early Art  

–  Photographers  and  Painters  select  themes  and    treatments  that  present  situa3ons  “naturalis)cally”  

–  Images  should  have  a    posi)ve  and  upli7ing  message.  

–  Photographs  should  be  truthful  and  inspira)onal  

–  The  teaching  of  Art  History  became  popular  using  photographs  of  objects  and  pain)ng.  

NADAR  (GASPARD  Felix  TOURNACHON).  TWO  cartoons.  "Photography  asking  for  just  a  liKle  place  in  the  exhibi3on  of  fine  arts.”    Engraving  from  Pe3t  journal  pour  rire,  1855.  "The  ingra3tude  of  pain3ng  refusing  the  smallest  place  in  its  exhibi3on  to  photography    to  whom  it  owes  so  much."  Engravings  from  Le  journal  amusant,  1857.  Bibliotheque  Na3onale,  Paris.  

!ree main positions on the use of photography

•  Photographs  should  not  be  considered  “art”  because  they  were  made  with  a  mechanical  device  and  by  physical  and  chemical  instead  of  by  human  hand  and  spirit.  (painters  and  public)  

•  “Photographs  would  be  useful  to  art  but  should  not  be  considered  equal  in  crea3veness  to  drawing  and  pain3ng.”  (Thomas  Eakins,  painters,  some  photographers  and  cri3cs)  

•  As  with  etching  and  lithography,  camera  images  were  or  could  be  as  significant  as  handmade  works  of  art  and  they  may  have  beneficial  influence  on  the  arts  and  culture  in  general.  

G.P.A.  Healy,  Frederic  Church  and  Jervis  McEntee,  The  Arch  of  Titus,  1871.  Oil  on  Canvas  

Unknown  Photographer.  Longfellow  and  Daughter  In  Healy  Studio  in  Rome,  1868-­‐69.  Albumen  Print.  

The  Voices  of  opposi3on  to  Photography  

France  Charles  Baudelaire  (cri3c  and  poet)  regarded  photography  as  a  “very  humble  servant  of  art  and  science.  

England  Lady  Elizabeth  Eastlake  (one  of  the  first  to  write  about  early  photography)  “PHOTOGRAPHY”  She  wrote,  “is  concerned  with  the  rela3onship  of  truth”  and  “reality”  

John  Ruskin  (English  and  American  cri3c)  welcomed  photography  as  a”  mechanical  inven3on  of  value  and  then  later  denounced  it  as  trivial”  

Photography and Early Art  Pictoreal !emes embraced by photographers

Nudes and costumed "gures

Landscape

Still life

Genre views

Nudes and costumed "gures

Hermann Krone. Nude Study, 1850. Daguerreotype

Julien Vallou De Villeneuve. Women with Pitcher, 1855. Calotype.

Amercian Painter !omas Eakins

THOMAS EAKINS. !e Swimming Hole, 1883.

Nature

ASHER B. DURAXD. Trie Pool, Cliche verre from albumen print. 1859

Charles_Marville. Salt Print from Calotype negative 1851

Still Life

ROGER FENTON. Still Life of Fruit, 1860 ADOLPHE BRAUN. Flower Study, c. 1855.

Still Life

ADOLPHE BRAUN. Stil lLife with Deer and Wildfowl, C. 1865. Carbon print

VALENTIN GOTTFRIED. Hunt Picture, late 17th-early 18th century. Oil on canvas

Genre Photography

CHARLES NEGRE. Young Girl Seated with a Basket, 1852. Salt print.

What were photographers saying about the status of Photography as Art?

•  Many painters/photographers believed that camera images were capable of expression, thought and feelings.

•  Roger Fenton: England •  Charles Negre, Gustav Legrey: France •  Carleton Watkins: America

!ere were other artist/painter/photographers who embraced a different vision. Oscar Gustav Rejlander 1813 –1875

Henry Peach Robinson 1830-1901

Composite Photography

“Two Ways of Life”

Oscar Rejlander . Two Ways of Life” Albumen Composite print 1857

Oscar Rejlander . Two Ways of Life” 1857

Raphael !e School of Athens (1510-1511)

Composite Photography

Oscar Rejlander. Hard Times, 1860. Albumen print

Composite Photography

Henry Peach Robinson. Preliminary Sketch with photo inserted, 1860. Albumen print and pastel collage on paper

Fading Away Henry Peach Robinson

Fading Away. 1858. Composite Albumen Print.

Narrative, Allegorical, and Genre Images Julia Margaret Cameron 1815-1879

Lancelot and Guinevere , about 1877 I Wait (R. Gurney), 1872

Narrative, Allegorical, and Genre Images Lady Clementina Hawarden 1822-1865

CLEMENTINA, LADY HAWARDEN. Young Girl with Mirror Reflection, 1860s. Albumen print.

Peter Henry Emerson (1856–1936)

In the Barley Harvest from Pictures of East Anglian Life, 1888. Gravure print.

Peter Henry Emerson (1856–1936)

•  Alfred  Steiglitz