The Photograph in Historical and Contemporary Art

Introduction

6 Minute Read + 6 Minute Video

Commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Tom Waits narrates an epic exploration into the life of contemporary artist John Baldessari, who used his own photography as well as appropriated images to create memorable artworks. (Video Length = 5:54)

As a starting point in thinking about and considering the idea of contemporary photographic practice, it may be beneficial to glance back to past photographic practice. Just like other other artistic practices, including drawing and painting and sculpture for example, since its invention, photography has experienced a series of movements that have questioned and challenged how it is defined as other artistic/style movements. Photography was initially defined by its invention through science, technology and the idea of drawing with light - the camera lucida. These movements are reflective of the rapid and continuous development and advancement of tools (cameras and image-making devices), and processes (from wet- and dry-plate to flexible film to digital and artificial intelligence).

Read the following discussion for some perspective on how photography has been approached in historical and contemporary contexts as you begin thinking about and working on the upcoming Image-Making Assignment.

Connection

Considering and incorporating these Historical and Contemporary Approaches of photography will be helpful towards successfully completing the following upcoming assignments:

Module Review by Recommended Date

Movements and Approaches with Photography in the Visual Arts

Historical Movements and Approaches

Haystack with a ladder leaning against it; one in negative and one in positive.

© William Henry Fox Talbot, The Haystack, 1844

Photogenic Drawing / Calotype Process

Daguerreotype - represents the invention of photography in 1839 by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre with the use of a silver-coated copper plate to register an image in a camera obscura - a darkened room or what would ultimately become a box - the photographic camera.

Collodion / Wet-Plate Process - developed at the start of photography by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851 in which glass plates were sensitized to light with a coating of substance called collodion mixed silver salts. While damp, the plate would be placed inside the camera and exposed.

Photogenic Drawing / Calotype Process - developed by William Henry Fox Talbot, also at the start of the invention of photography, that used light-sensitive paper to produce a paper negative from which multiple prints could be made.

A sketch of a group with one detailed, reclining figure of a girl on the right side.

© Henry Peach Robinson, Group with Recumbent Figure (Sketch with cut-out image), 1860

Pictorialism

Pictorialism - late 19th- and early 20th-century art movement, including drawing/painting and photography, in which the images were characterized by a less-than sharp sense of the subject matter. In photography, this could include the use of soft-focus and hand-manipulation of painterly gestures to suggest emotion and mood.

A collage of a woman's face with paper cutouts, titled "Indian Dancer" by Hannah Höch.

© Hannah Höch, Indian Dancer, 1930

Dadaism

Constructivism - early 20th-century art movement that emphasized rejecting tradition materials and subjects. Similar movements that were explored during this time included Dadaism (work that was created in a fragmentary and/or incomplete manner, i.e. collage), and Cubism (work that was created by disassembling the subject in structure and shape, and then, re-assembling, i.e. the work of Pablo Picasso comes to mind).

Passengers on a crowded ship, titled "The Steerage" by Alfred Stieglitz.

© Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage, 1907

Modernism

Realism and Objectivity - within the visual arts in the 20th-century, this suggests what would be considered an "accurate, truthful and objective" depiction and representation of what is being pictured.

Modernism - a global initiative that began and continued on throughout the 20th-century that sought to align with the experience and values of the modern industrial life. In the visual arts, this suggested the use and emphasis of modern materials, techniques and processes to create artworks that reflected the realities and hopes of modern societies, including a rejection of history and conservative values (such as realistic depiction of subjects) as well as innovation and experimentation with form (shape, color, line, composition, etc.).

Contemporary Movements and Approaches

Self portrait of Cindy Sherman from Untitled Film Stills series.

© Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #14, 1978

Postmodernism / Constructed Photoraphy

Postmodernism - was initially suggested in the 1970's as a rejection of the ideas and approaches of Modernism, suggesting a skepticism of the ideal and individual experience. Such postmodern directions in the visual arts include Pop Art (visual artworks that draw inspiration from sources in popular and commercial culture), Conceptualism (idea and the visual execution of the idea are as important as the visual object itself), Performance Art, and in the case of photography, Constructed Photography, where the subject was put together conceptually and visually by the artist in front of camera as opposed to the photographer standing behind the camera and responding to the subject matter that was naturally in front of them.

Girl from Contact Sheet 2d" by Sara Cwynar.

© Sara Cwynar, Girl from Contact Sheet 2 (Darkroom Manual), 2014

Post-Postmodernism

Post-Postmodernism (Metamodernism or Hypermodernism) - a cultural theory that has emerged as a convergence of thought and practice between Modernism and Postmodernism, suggesting the integration of approaches, materials and processes, both historical and contemporary, including alternative realities and artificial intelligence, to create artworks in considering self-reflectivity, oppositional factors, the "epic and over-the-top," juxtaposing of seemingly disparate elements, irony and sarcasm, and anthropomorphizing - projection of human personality onto non-human creatures or inanimate objects.