Paul Strand

I find Paul Strand's work particularly interesting, primarily for its ability to convey such strong social messages. With regards to the "Blind" photo, which features a blind woman who is clearly labled, Strand is able to convey a deep message. To me, the photo forces the viewer to contemplate the fact that a blind woman is forced to wear a sign around her neck that clearly lables her. Futhermore, the Wall Street image, with its dark shadowing and mysterious features, conveys the "dark side" of city life. Meaning, life on Wall Street may not be so glamorous after all. What is so great about Strand's work, in addition to conveying such strong social messages, is the fact that each viewer can interpret the work a little bit differently.

Thursday, March 13

Chapter 9 Notes

KEY WORDS/PEOPLE
*Alvin Langdon Coburn- (1882-1966) Fine Art Photographer. He began taking photographs at the age of eight, became a founder-member of Photo-Secession and in 1903 was elected to the Linked Ring, and at the early age of twenty-five had exhibited a one-man show at the Royal Photographic Society. Coburn made a number of urban landscape pictures, with a definite mood. He was also an accomplished portrait photographer, and in 1913 and 1922 produced a two-volume collection of photographs of celebrities, entitled "Men of Mark." He is perhaps best known for producing Vortographs, non-objective photographs of such items as a piece of wood or crystal, through an arrangement of mirrors, resulting in multiple images.

*Edward Steichen (1879–1973) was an American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator, born in Luxembourg. Having established himself as a fine art painter in the beginning of the 20th century, Steichen assumed the pictorialist approach in photography and proved himself a master of it. In 1905, Steichen helped create the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession with Alfred Stieglitz. After World War I, during which he commanded the photographic division of the American Expeditionary Forces, he reverted to straight photography, gradually moving into fashion photography. Steichen's 1928 photo of actress Greta Garbo is recognized as one of the definitive portraits of Garbo. During World War II, he served as Director of the Naval Photographic Institute. His war documentary The Fighting Lady won the 1945 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

*Imogen Cunningham (1883 - 1976) was an American Fine Art photographer known for her photography of botanicals, nudes and industry. Cunningham became one of the co-founders of the Group f/64. In the 1940s Cunningham turned to documentary street photography which she did as a side project whilst supporting herself with her commercial and studio photography and later on with teaching at the California School of Fine Arts.

*Paul Strand (1890 –1976) was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. Some of this early work experimented with formal abstractions, while other works showed his interest in using the camera as a tool for social reform. Although Strand is best known for his early abstractions, his return to still photography in this later period produced some of his most significant work in the form of six book ‘portraits’ of place.

Tuesday, March 11

KEY WORDS/PEOPLE
*Jacob August Riis (1849 - 1914), a Danish-American muckraker journalist, photographer, and social reformer, was born in Ribe, Denmark. He is known for his dedication to using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the less fortunate in New York City. As one of the first photographers to use flash, he is considered a pioneer in photography. He used photography as a tool to document the lives of the impoverished in New York City.
*How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York (1890) was a pioneering work of photojournalism by Jacob Riis, documenting the squalid living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s. It served as a basis for future muckraking journalism by exposing the slums to New York City’s upper and middle-class.

*Lewis Wickes Hine (1874 –1940)was an American photographer. For Hine, the camera was both a research tool and an instrument of social reform. In 1908, he became the photographer for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC). Over the next decade, Hine documented child labor in American industry to aid the NCLC's lobbying efforts to end the practice. Between 1906 and 1908, he was a freelance photographer for The Survey, a leading social reform magazine. He took all these pictures to show the country the cruelties of child labor. During and after World War I, he documented American Red Cross relief work in Europe. During the Great Depression, he again worked for the Red Cross, photographing drought relief in the American South, and for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), documenting life in the mountains of eastern Tennessee.

*Walker Evans (1903 –1975) was an American photographer best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans' work from the FSA period uses the large-format, 8x10-inch camera. He wrote that his goal as a photographer was to make pictures that are "literate, authoritative, transcendent."

*Dorothea Lange (1895 –1965) was an influential American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange's photographs humanized the tragic consequences of the Great Depression and profoundly influenced the development of documentary photography. In 1952, Lange co-founded the photographic magazine Aperture.
* “Migrant Mother”- The photograph that has become known as "Migrant Mother" is one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made of Florence Owens Thompson and her children in February or March of 1936 in Nipomo, California.

*FSA-Initially created as the Resettlement Administration in 1935 as part of the New Deal, the Farm Security Administration was an effort during the Depression to combat rural poverty. The FSA stressed "rural rehabilitation" efforts to improve the lifestyle of sharecroppers, tenants, and very poor landowning farmers, and a program to purchase submarginal land owned by poor farmers and resettle them in group farms on land more suitable for efficient farming. The RA and FSA are well known for the influence of their photography program, 1935-1944. Photographers and writers were hired to report and document the plight of the poor farmer.

Thursday, March 6

Today's class discussion focused on the body in photography. We began class by discussing images by Robert Mapplethorpe, particularly an image of Ken Moody. This image is particularly interesting because Moody has no facial hair and is featured with a neutral background, which creates a beautiful image. We also viewed a number of Mapplethorpe's other photos of the body (which are often nude), as well as flowers, and sculptures.

KEY WORDS/PEOPLE
*E.J. Bellocq- was a professional photographer who worked in New Orleans during the early 20th century. Bellocq is remembered for his haunting photographs of the prostitutes of Storyville, New Orleans' legalized red light district. These have inspired novels, poems and films.

*Hans Bellmer- was a German artist, best known for the life-sized pubescent female dolls he produced in the mid-1930s. He is also commonly thought of, in the art world, as a Surrealist photographer. His photographs are mostly of pubescent girls.

*Edward Weston- was an American photographer, and co-founder of Group f/64. Most of his work was done using an 8 by 10 inch view camera. After 1927, Weston worked mainly with nudes, still life and landscape subjects. He took many interesting photos of the human body (many nude, but some face photos as well).

*Robert Mapplethorpe (1946 –1989) was an American photographer, known for his large-scale, highly stylized black & white portraits, photos of flowers and male nudes. The frank, erotic nature of some of the work of his middle period triggered a more general controversy about the public funding of artworks. Most of his images feature a neutral background so that the subject stands out. Ken Moody is one of his models. He passed away from complications of AIDS.

*Minor Martin White (1908 –1976) was an American photographer born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His photos were often of barns, doorways, water, the sky, or simple paint peeling on a wall: things usually considered mundane, but often made special by the quality of the light in which they were photographed. One of his more popular photographs is titled Frost on Window, a close-up of frost crystals on glass. White co-founded the influential magazine Aperture in 1952 with fellow photographers such as Ansel Adams.

*Aperture is a quarterly photography magazine based in New York, New York, USA. The magazine is published by Aperture Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to fine art photography. The foundation also publishes books on photography. Aperture magazine was founded by Minor White, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Barbara Morgan, Nancy Newhall and Beaumont Newhall, Melton Ferris and Dody Warren.

Portrait Photography

Since we discussed portrait photography this week, I thought that I'd write a little bit on Anne Leibovitz. While I already knew that she had photographed practically every celebrity, I really didn't know much else about her. While searching for some background info, I found an interesting interview with her on Powells.com where she discussed one of her books. She explains that when she attented the San Fransisco Art Institute, she studied "personalized reportage...a la Robert Frank and Cartier-Bresson" and when she first started working at Rolling Stone she thought that she was more of a photo-journalist. However, she soon realized that she was much more of a portrait photographer. She explains that, "In a portrait, you have room to have a point of view and to be conceptual with a picture. The image may not be literally what's going on, but it's representative." (http://www.powells.com/authors/leibovitz.html)

I found this interview particularly interesting as Leibovitz is responsible for a number of amazing images. After reading more about her, I now understand that each image is a deliberate means of representing a message. One of her messages, as she explains in the interview, is to disprove the stereotype that as women age they are no longer beautiful. This photo of Barbara Bush is included in her book Women and is likely meant to convey this message.

(Photo:http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/cosmo15/leibovitz.htm)

Whereas before I only admired the Leibovitz's actual portraits, I now admire her personal mission as well.

Tuesday, March 5

Today's class discussion centered around the portrait in photoraphy. Be began class by looking at photos by Scarlett (which are great!). We then looked at several other portrait photographers. Nadar, a French photographer, was first studied. Nadar photographed in the 1850s and 60s and has a number of interesting photos. Many of his photos capture a subject who is not smiling and appears to be somewhat uncomfortable. This is far different from the norm today, where people must smile in portraits. We then looked at photos by Julia Margaret Cameron, an English photographer who photographed in the mid-19th century. Her images were the beginning of art photography. She used images of people to create a mood. She was much more interested in the poetic possibility of her images. August Sander, a German, was then studied. Sander photographed around the time of World War I and during the 1930s. He was interested in documenting everday life in Germany, and captured the Weimar Republic. Finally, we looked at photos by Bill Brandt who was a British photographer. Brandt was a documentary/environmental photographer who captured a number of subjects, including many coal miners. His photos of coal miners captures the reality of the job.

KEY WORDS/PEOPLE
*Nadar- was a French photographer who photographed portraits of people in the 1850s and 60s. Many of his photos capture subjects who are not smiling and appear to be somewhat uncomfortable, drastically different from portraits of today. He also photographed Catacombs.

*David Octavius Hill- (1802 – 1870) collaborated with the engineer and photographer Robert Adamson between 1843 and 1847 to pioneer many aspects of photography in Scotland. Their collaboration, with Hill providing skill in composition and lighting, and Adamson considerable sensitivity and dexterity in handling the camera, proved extremely successful, and they soon broadened their subject matter. Adamson's studio, "Rock House", on Calton Hill in Edinburgh became the centre of their photographic experiments. Using the Calotype process, they produced a wide range of portraits depicting well-known Scottish luminaries of the time, including Hugh Miller, both in the studio and in outdoors settings, often amongst the elaborate tombs in Greyfriars Kirkyard.

*Robert Adamson- (1821 –1848) was a Scottish pioneer photographer. See above

*Julia Margaret Cameron- was a British photographer who photographed in the mid-19th century. She created the beginning of art photography. She used imagery of people to create a mood. She specialized in soft focus. She was more interested in poetic possibility of imagery. She was conscious of photography as an art form. Many portraits are of her niece.

*August Sander- was a German photographer who photographed in and around the time of WWI and also in 1930s. He wanted to document everyday life in Germany. He also captured Weimar Republic, before it was destroyed.

*Bill Brandt- (1904 –1983) was an influential British photographer and photojournalist known for his high-contrast images of British society and his distorted nudes and landscapes. He also captured coal miners, and the reality of coal mining.

*Yousuf Karsh- (December 23, 1908 –2002) was a Canadian photographer of Armenian heritage, and one of the most famous and accomplished portrait photographers of all time. He created portraits of many famous people, including Winston Churchill, Humphrey Bogart, Einstein, etc.

*Richard Avedon- (1923 –2004) was an American photographer. Avedon was able to take his early success in fashion photography and expand it into the realm of fine art. Avedon was always interested in how portraiture captures the personality and soul of its subject. Avedon also created two famous sets of portraits of The Beatles.

*Environmental portraiture- when you took a portrait in the environment in which the subject either works or lives.

Powerful City Pictures

Each of these photos, taken from the photographers discussed in class, capture how powerful the city truly is. Particularly, these photos capture that certain mystical/forceful quality that skyscrapers seem to possess.
I find Levitt's photograph particularly interesting because the people look so sad. It's almost as if they have been taken over by the city and they are imprisoned. It's as if they are looking out the window and hoping to escape the city's grasp.




Steglitz (above)














Levitt (above)


















Abbott (above)

All photos taken from Masters of Photography

Thursday, February 28

Our discussion of photography shifted from the landscape to the city in photographs. We began by looking at photos by Alfred Steglitz, who photographed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Steglitz primarily photographed New York and was influenced a great deal by pictorialism. Steglitz really records reality of everday life from his perspective and attempts to see what we may not see. He was very much interested in form, but also the relationship between the city and the natural environment. Interestingly, he was also the husband of Georgia O'Keefe. We also viewed photos by Berenice Abbott, who was a French photographer who also photographed New York around the 1930s. Abbott captured the power of the city by photographing enormous buildings, but was also very much interested in form. She really wanted to capture as much as the city as possible. We next looked at photos by Helen Levitt, who also captured New York City but in the mid-20th century. Levitt was known as a street photographer and recored the lives of people in the city. She captured random moments, but they are moments that often have a deeper meaning. Levitt was very much interested in the city as the center of the universe. Outside of New York City, Eugene Atget captured Paris in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Atget was interested in everyday Paris, particularly older parts of the city as the area was changing. His point of view was more historical. He became inspiration for future street photographers. Finally, we looked at photos by Brassai, who began photographing in the 1930s. Brassai captured the underworld of Paris and was interested in street photography.

KEY WORDS/PEOPLE
*Alfred Steglitz- was an American photographer who worked a lot in New York during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is often called the “father of art photography” as he was a champion of photography as an art form. He was influenced by pictorialism. He records reality of everyday life from his eye in an attempt to capture the things that an ordinary person might miss. He was interested in form and also the relationship between the city and natural environment. He was also husband and champion of Georgia O’Keefe. Later in life, he began to photograph nature.

*Georgia Totti O'Keeffe (1887—1986) was an American artist. She is associated with the American Southwest, where she found artistic inspiration, and particularly New Mexico, where she settled late in life. O'Keeffe has been a major figure in American art since the 1920s. She is chiefly known for paintings in which she synthesized abstraction and representation in paintings of flowers, rocks, shells, animal bones and landscapes. She was also married to Alfred Steglitz.

*Camera Work- was a quarterly photographic publication by Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secessionists from 1902 to 1917 that was known for its high-quality reproductions and its effort to establish photography as a fine art.

*Photo-Secession movement- was a group of photographers led by Alfred Stieglitz in the early 1900s that helped to raise standards and awareness of art photography. In 1902 Stieglitz formed an invitation-only group, which he called the Photo-Secession, to force the art world to recognize photography "as a distinctive medium of individual expression." Among its members were Edward Steichen, Gertrude Kasebier, Clarence White and Alvin Langdon Coburn. Photo-Secession held its own exhibitions and its work was frequently published in Stieglitz's journal Camera Work which acted as a mouthpiece for the group, although it was technically independent from it.

*Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession (later known as 291)- was a tiny fine art photography gallery in New York City created and run by Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen from November 1905 to 1917. The gallery helped bring art photography, initially that in the Pictorialist style, to the same level of appreciation in America as painting and sculpture.

*Berenice Abbott- Abbott was an American photographer who studied in France. She is most well known for her black and white photography of New York City during the 1930s. She wanted to capture as much of the city as possible. Her work provides chronicles of buildings that have since been destroyed.

*Eugene Atget- was a French photographer who photographed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is most well known for his photographs of Paris. He was interested in everyday life of Paris, particularly the older areas of the city at a time that the city was changing. He became an inspiration for future street photographers. He had more of a historical point of view.

*Brassaï- (1899 –1984) was a Hungarian photographer, sculptor, and filmmaker who rose to fame in France. He began photographing in the 1930s and was interested in the underworld of Paris. He was a street photographer.

RANDOM CLASS NOTES
-Photography evolves within modernism
-Modernism is strongly associated with the city.
-In late 19th century, Paris is center of art world and London was also important
-In beginning of 20th century, New York becomes center of world’s high culture
-New York is captured as a multi-cultural environment in 1930s

*Helen Levitt- was an American photographer in the mid 20th century. She captured New York and recorded people in the city (primarily children). She was thus a street photographer. Some images are somewhat surreal. One of her most famous is of 3 children with masks. She captured random moments but they had meaning. She was interested in the city as the center of the universe.