Re: neo-Pictorialism

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From: Sandy King (sanking@clemson.edu)
Date: 10/09/03-07:56:27 PM Z


Kate,

You are absolutely right on with your comments. Pictorialism began in
the late 19th century in Europe and the goal was to make photographs
that looked like the art of the period. And the techniques used to
achieve this end were certainly not accidental. Anyone can go back to
the period and find articles on how to blur images with soft focus
lenses, filters, etc, and processes like gum and oil were highly
valued both because of their ability to offer tonal controls and
because the soft fuzzy look was much sought after. Anyone who really
wants to understand the roots of Pictorialism should read Peter Henry
Emerson's Naturalistic Photography, and have a look at his platinum
prints in Life and Landscapes of the Norfolk Broad.

I have the book mentioned by Steve, Pictorialism in California, and
while there are some fine examples of pictorial work in the book I
think it only fair to point out that with this particular movement
California lagged rather far behind the major photographic centers in
England, France and German, as well as several cities in the US,
including Philadelphia and New York.

Sandy

>?
>Steve sSapiro said:
>Weston and the gang were nothing more than a group of punks doing
>photography very, very well. The original group, the Brennan Group
>that met in Berkeley were mostly [women] photographers employed to
>illustrate books of poetry and epic poems, classics of the kind
>rarely read today. These photographs were referred to as a genre,
>"Pictoralism."
>
>Steve, I think the pictorialsm label extends beyond the Brennan
>group and in fact predates it - you find exponents all over the
>world in the late 19th- early 20th century. i think the ethos behind
>the movement is more relevant than any group label. Steichen, for
>instance and definitely Demachy were both pictorialists in the broad
>sense of the word. They tried to reproduce the effects of painting
>in photography rather than go for the sharp, f64 look, in an attempt
>to emphasise the artistic possibilities of the new medium.
>Pictorialism is particularly associated in many texts with gum
>bichromate and other (as we say nowadays) alt-processes, and has in
>fact been responsible for the reputation gum has for fuzziness.There
>is no doubt in my mind that this technique was deliberate, and NOT
>the result of poor lenses or any technical problems..... what you
>say applies to America (certainly California), but certainly it
>wasn't the case in the wider world.
>
>Kate Mahoney
>
>


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