From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 06/08/02-08:26:31 PM Z
On Sat, 8 Jun 2002, Alejandro Lopez de Haro wrote:
> My point is that if someone uses the photographic medium as a medium of art
> and if he or she sells themselves as artists, then they must be involved in
> every step of their work, because otherwise they are not being honest to the
> viewing public.
That's a series of linked opinions with zero demonstrability.
The old masters were, even by standards of today's photographers, almost
certainly *artists*, but nobody said MUST about "every step of their
work." In fact having an atelier & lots of flunkies was a token of their
success and desirability. Some did little more than draw the "cartoon," if
that.
(Of course "involved" is a fairly broad definition. If I tell my printer
do it on such & such paper I'm *involved.*)
But what do "honest" and "art" have to do with each other anyway? Some of
the greatest artists in history had no morals at all. Making an
essentially neutral proposition (work flow) into *ethics* is turning our
own personal preference into a moral imperative. The only dishonesty would
be to say I did it myself if I didn't.
I don't recall this in other media, except perhaps surgery where if you're
paying some high-priced celebrity, you don't want his/her resident cutting
you up. It suggests an inferiority complex about *photography*... that
it's not really art after all, unless.... etc. etc.
Otherwise, why stop at photography -- shouldn't architects build their own
buildings, engineers smelt their own steel & hook up their own bridges,
fashion designers sew their own dresses, chefs peel their own onions, and
if Tiffany didn't blow his own glass he, too, was a crook.
As for "if he or she sells themselves as artists." Some of the greatest
photographs in history were NOT done as "art." (Would you like an Atget?)
Not to mention that some of the hokiest garbage awaiting its place in
history's landfill is done by folks wrapped in the flag of *artiste.*
Judy
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : 07/02/02-10:33:22 AM Z CST