Re: The Pictorial Nude and Pictorialism Generally

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From: William Marsh (redcloud54@earthlink.net)
Date: 09/03/02-01:34:40 PM Z


Christine,

Does this mean you went to Mass Art? Nixon taught there, didn't he? My
daughter is looking for a good place to go for undergraduate photo. Any
advice you might give about this would be appreciated.

Bill

epona wrote:
>
> Yes, I was lucky to be a student of his and am familiar with a lot of his work.
> He is very conscious of making his subjects feel as comfortable as possible,
> doing long shoots. After a time of being in front of the 8x10, the initial
> "mask" begins to drop and the real person comes through. I love the picture of
> his wife in the bathtub, and also the portraits of her and her three sisters. He
> took one photo of the four of them every year for many years, maybe twenty. It's
> a neat documentation of change and time.
>
> Cheers,
> Christine
>
> William Marsh wrote:
>
> > Has anyone seen Nicholas Nixon's fairly early work, taking people
> > pictures with an 8x10? They were "candid" and in close. Also amazing.
> >
> > Bill
> >
> > Carl Weese wrote:
> > >
> > > > Carl, let me suggest that when you say you "know" what the small camera
> > > > "is for," you err. I don't think in fact ANYONE knows what ANY camera
> > > > "is for." That's what the excitement is about.
> > >
> > > Of course some genius may come along and invent something really and truly
> > > new to do with a camera of any size. I'm waiting. I'll steal from her right
> > > away. And then make it my own.
> > >
> > > >
> > > > As for invisibility... That's a lot harder for a man than for a woman.
> > >
> > > That's actually a matter of craft--the invisibility. But that's not the
> > > right word. My former point was the lack of threatening presence:
> > > invisibility is literally impossible but practically you can do an amazingly
> > > good imitation. It's a learned technique. As you know, I'm not exactly
> > > small. But my partner has pointed out that at particular times when I was
> > > totally immersed in a small camera project, I'd gotten so into the manner of
> > > my shooting 24/7 that she'd lose me at the grocery store. Couldn't find me,
> > > while looking right there. How many other six foot four people was I hiding
> > > among?....Tina just came and looked over my shoulder at the computer screen,
> > > and said, "yes, it used to drive me crazy the way you'd disappear at the
> > > supermarket in west philly" (that would be 1971). It was a craft skill that
> > > I'd carefully practiced for years. It helps you make good pictures. Snapping
> > > away in a crowd is, I suppose, a way to be invisible, but what will you get?
> > > Snaps of a crowd.
> > >
> > > I spent my entire adolescence, which would be the decade of the sixties,
> > > taking pictures in NYC nearly every minute I wasn't in school. Times Square,
> > > The Village, whatever. As I grew out of adolescence I realized how boring
> > > all that was, even though the pix were selling like hotcakes (and for about
> > > that much money) as stock through Black Star. Strange to take a psychology
> > > class as an undergrad and find the textbook illustrated with some of your
> > > own pictures. Hey, I got forty bucks for that! You have to move on. When I
> > > realized I was making good pictures, pictures that would not sell as stock,
> > > I knew I'd grown up, at least a little, as an artist.
> > >
> > > ---Carl
>
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
> It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this
> emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and
> stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed."
> -Albert Einstein


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