Painting and photography
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| Since both [[painting]] and [[photography]] seek to mimic the real world, it is only natural that from the early beginnings, the relationship between painting and photography has been ambivalent. Especially the field of [[portrait painting]] felt the threat of [[portrait photography]] from its early days, despite the verly long exposure times of early photography. Nevertheless, artists were quick to see the advantages of photography, most commonly as a means to replace expensive live [[model (art)|model]]s. | Since both [[painting]] and [[photography]] seek to mimic the real world, it is only natural that from the early beginnings, the relationship between painting and photography has been ambivalent. Especially the field of [[portrait painting]] felt the threat of [[portrait photography]] from its early days, despite the verly long exposure times of early photography. Nevertheless, artists were quick to see the advantages of photography, most commonly as a means to replace expensive live [[model (art)|model]]s. | ||
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| + | The development of [[photography]] in the 19th century had a significant effect on painting and espedially on [[portrait painting]], supplanting the earlier [[camera obscura]] which had also been previously used as an aid in painting. Many modernists flocked to the photography studios to have their portraits made, including [[Baudelaire]] who, though he proclaimed photography an "enemy of art", found himself attracted to photography's frankness and power. By providing a cheap alternative, photography supplanted much of the lowest level of portrait painting. Some realist artists, such as [[Thomas Eakins]] and [[Edgar Degas]], were enthusiastic about camera photography and found it to be a useful aid to composition. From the Impressionists forward, portrait painters found a myriad number of ways to reinterpret the portrait to compete effectively with photography. Sargent and Whistler were among those stimulated to expand their technique to create effects that the camera could not capture. | ||
| Successful attempts to make self-consciously "art" photography can be traced to [[Victorian era]] practitioners such as [[Julia Margaret Cameron]], [[Charles Lutwidge Dodgson]], and [[Oscar Gustave Rejlander]] among others. | Successful attempts to make self-consciously "art" photography can be traced to [[Victorian era]] practitioners such as [[Julia Margaret Cameron]], [[Charles Lutwidge Dodgson]], and [[Oscar Gustave Rejlander]] among others. | ||
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Since both painting and photography seek to mimic the real world, it is only natural that from the early beginnings, the relationship between painting and photography has been ambivalent. Especially the field of portrait painting felt the threat of portrait photography from its early days, despite the verly long exposure times of early photography. Nevertheless, artists were quick to see the advantages of photography, most commonly as a means to replace expensive live models.
The development of photography in the 19th century had a significant effect on painting and espedially on portrait painting, supplanting the earlier camera obscura which had also been previously used as an aid in painting. Many modernists flocked to the photography studios to have their portraits made, including Baudelaire who, though he proclaimed photography an "enemy of art", found himself attracted to photography's frankness and power. By providing a cheap alternative, photography supplanted much of the lowest level of portrait painting. Some realist artists, such as Thomas Eakins and Edgar Degas, were enthusiastic about camera photography and found it to be a useful aid to composition. From the Impressionists forward, portrait painters found a myriad number of ways to reinterpret the portrait to compete effectively with photography. Sargent and Whistler were among those stimulated to expand their technique to create effects that the camera could not capture.
Successful attempts to make self-consciously "art" photography can be traced to Victorian era practitioners such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, and Oscar Gustave Rejlander among others.
Impressionism
Photography was gaining popularity, and as cameras became more portable, photographs became more candid. Photography inspired Impressionists to capture the moment, not only in the fleeting lights of a landscape, but in the day-to-day lives of people.
The rise of the impressionist movement can be seen in part as a reaction by artists to the newly established medium of photography. The taking of fixed or still images challenged painters by providing a new medium with which to capture reality. Initially photography’s presence seemed to undermine the artist’s depiction of nature and their ability to mirror reality. Both portrait and landscape paintings were deemed somewhat deficient and lacking in truth as photography “produced lifelike images much more efficiently and reliably”.
In spite of this, photography actually inspired artists to pursue other means of artistic expression, and rather than competing with photography to emulate reality, artists focused “on the one thing they could inevitably do better than the photograph – by further developing into an art form its very subjectivity in the conception of the image, the very subjectivity that photography eliminated”. The Impressionists sought to express their perceptions of nature, rather than create exacting reflections or mirror images of the world. This allowed artists to subjectively depict what they saw with their “tacit imperatives of taste and conscience”. Photography encouraged painters to exploit aspects of the painting medium, like colour, which photography then lacked; “the Impressionists were the first to consciously offer a subjective alternative to the photograph”.
Edgar Degas was an avid photographer. His The Dance Class (La classe de danse) of 1874 shows the influence of photography in its asymmetrical composition. The dancers are seemingly caught off guard in various awkward poses, leaving an expanse of empty floor space in the lower right quadrant.
The quotes are taken from Paul Levinson (1997) The Soft Edge; a Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution, Routledge, London and New York.
See also
- From today, painting is dead
- Protestation des grands artistes contre toute assimilation de la photographie à l'art
