Re: Fine Art 1897 thru 1930

On Sun, 23 May 2004, John Cremati wrote:
> Hi,
> I had recently purchased a large collection of "International Studio
> Magazines" ... The collection spans from 1897 thru 1930.... This magazine
> was one of , if not , the premier "Fine Arts " magazine of its day.. ..
> Topics included Painting, Printmaking, Woodcut, Sculpture, Crafts,
> Antiquities , Collecting, European and American... What is amazing to me is
> how little ( although there is some) photography was included over these
> years..
> Can anyone shed some more light on the attitude of the Fine Art community
> had toward photography during this time period?
> John Cremati

John, that's what Steiglitz was making the big stink and crusade about, &
what the pictorialists were explaining -- that photography is art. Even a
lot of photographers didn't think so until well into the 20th century.

There are many collections of essays of the period arguing the point, in
addition to Camera Work & Camera Notes, & more recently Issue #3 of
Post-Factory, reprints of essays by the Linked Ring, also "The Valiant
Knights of Daguerre," Peter Bunnell's, anthology "A Photographic Vision,
Pictorial Photography, 1889-1923," a couple of great books by (from
memory: Aaron?) Scharf, etc. etc. etc, a whole library in fact. But any
relatively recent history of photography (Newhall, Rosenblum, Hirsch,
Frizot) will give the gist.

Judy
Received on Sun May 23 17:17:29 2004