Curatorship Task - Introduction
My exhibition will explore Landscape Photography throughout the last 100 years and in particular Surrealist Landscape photography. The exhibition will explore the power of the image to evoke a sub conscious or emotional response in the observer, to challenge and perplex or to induce a dream like state of reverie in equal measure. The exhibition will have a historical perspective and will include the work of photographers who were at the forefront of exploration in landscape photography - the photo-secessionists from the turn of the century. With regards to contemporary photographers , I will initially explore the work of a number of photographers who are working in the field of surreal photography, but using different techniques.
Landscape in photography lends itself well to an approach that combines the principles of fine art in terms of composition and light with the technical advances that modern processes can enable. My hope for this exhibition is that it will delight, suprise and challenge the visitor in equal measure.
My working title for this exhibition is 'Painters with Cameras' a quote taken from Swedish Photographer Christopher Relander when describing his work.
Landscape in photography lends itself well to an approach that combines the principles of fine art in terms of composition and light with the technical advances that modern processes can enable. My hope for this exhibition is that it will delight, suprise and challenge the visitor in equal measure.
My working title for this exhibition is 'Painters with Cameras' a quote taken from Swedish Photographer Christopher Relander when describing his work.
Initial research into possible artists
Silvia Grav
Silvia Grav is a 19 year old photographer based in Milan she creates black and white photo manipulations often featuring contrasting textures melting into familiar forms. The reason I am considering including her in the exhibition is although her images are of human form, they are manipulated to give a sense of double exposure using clouds and forms from nature. They are a hybrid between portrait and landscape - the natural elements enhancing the underlying emotion of the human form. Clouds and steam shooting forth from human orifices, shadowy skies and dappled light crossing faces - her work is very evocative and reminiscent of the work of Salvador Dali.
Randy Slavin
Randy Slavin gives the viewer an altered perspective on the world using fish eye lenses and tilt shift. When looking at Slavin's images I link it to a scene in the film 'Limitless' where the character takes a pill that lets him access the whole of his brain, his perspective changes to fish eye and he has a much wider field of vision. For me one of the most interesting aspects of photography using a fisheye lense, is the idea that if we could access the whole of our brain in the service of our vision, that is what we would see - like the compound eye of a fly. Slavin's photography meets the need for images that surprise and challenge us - it is very hard to decipher the image and we are forced to look at it for a long time. Interestingly for me, decoding the image is such a complex process, that I do not have such an emotional response to the image. It is for this reason that he may not make the final exhibition.
Cristina Venedict
Crisitna Venedict creates photos that combine people and places in a surreal, almost sinister manner. Venedict manages to create a scene that looks like something out of a ghost story by making high contrast black and white photos edited with dramatic shadowy skies and clouds surrounding the frame, the persons in the photo are often silhouettes or are blurred by a kind of mist, the landscape usually consist of grassy paths and dead lifeless trees almost like she is creating an insight into the dark side if the afterlife.
David Keochkieran
David Keochkieran creates fantastical landscapes that look like they have come from a children's book or a Tim Burton movie by manipulating colours using a colour altering technology called infrared photography. Keochkieran depicts several landscapes in a wide variety of colour combinations, as a result is almost impossible to tell what season the pictures are taken in. I chose these pictures because they look like a setting from a fantasy story, like there from another world with bright colours, dramatic skylines and beautiful natural landscapes. The definition of surrealism is an art movement sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, I think Keochkieran successfully creates surrealism in his pictures. When looking at the pictures the viewer gets draw into this fantasy world and could find themselves looking at the picture for a long time letting there imagination create a story for this landscape.
Man Ray
Man ray is one of the pioneers of surreal photography in the early 1900s. His artistic output included avant-garde photography, renowned fashion and portrait photographs, sculpture, film and artefacts. His extraordinary photographic work ranges from portraits of women with dark makeup in high contrast black and white photos, but edited in such a way that it unsettles the viewer giving them a sinister feel to erotic, risque nude imagery that confounded gender expectations of the time. I have included him in my research for although his landscape work tended to be in oil and photography, his studies of the human body gave strong contour lines and the human form becomes like an undulating landscape.
" A camera alone does not make a picture. To make a picture, you need a camera, a photographer, and above all a subject '
" A camera alone does not make a picture. To make a picture, you need a camera, a photographer, and above all a subject '
The Exhibtion Space.
As the selection of photographers is thought about, research into the gallery space is my next task. This is an exhibtion that has potential to reach a mainstream gallery audience, as it will show images from some very well known photographers who have instant name recognition, like Man Ray. The exhibition will comprise three 'rooms' but I want to challenge the idea of a 'hung' exhibition with all the pictures in uniform frames. An exhibition designed to stir an emotional response needs different ways of exhibiting images. I imagine a gallery with big white walls and big white rooms, I believe the size of the walls is important as some images will be very large. I started my research by going to galleries in London. Although aware that not all art has to be in the capital city, it is where I am based.
Research into galleries.
Chisenhale gallery is located in Mile End, South London. It holds many exhibitions for local and international contemporary artists. It would be good for my exhibition as it is an artistically active area and a fashionable one, but I am not sure the space is big enough. I am looking for a balance between established Art Space that may feel too conventional and a more modern and fashionable feel.
OXO Gallery is a small gallery at the bottom of the OXO tower. The Tower is on South Bank next to the Thames River. The exhibitions here are usually free for visitors and it's in a contemporary area where there are other famous galleries like the Tate, the Saatchi Gallery and the Hayward, this means that the exhibition (if held in the OXO) would attract a lot of contemporary Art enthusiasts. Tate Modern is one of the most famous and successful museums in England. The exhibition will have a lot of attraction and almost definitely will be very successful. I also like the Tate for its exhibition space it has big white rooms and rooms that fit into each other in a random way meaning that every room is a different size and feel, the viewer feels as though they have to navigate their way around the exhibition like a maze. What I like about the Tate as an exhibition space is that it has regional links - there is a Tate Modern in Cornwall and in Liverpool, which means if the exhibition is successful it has a chance to transfer to other regions of the UK.
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Exhibition Research - Leaflet
As part of my research into the leaflet for my exhibition I went to a number of London based galleries to collect and asses what kinds of leaflets might be being used to draw people into exhibitions. The first leaflet from the HANS KEMP exhibition at the OXO Tower, I found surprising. The quality is poor as is the reproduction of the images. The leaflet is plain and blank - it looks as if they were going for a minimalistic look, but it comes across as low budget to me. The leaflet is also used as a marketing tool - to tell you how much the pictures cost to buy. This is an interesting idea and I would be interested to see how many people are prompted to buy having seen the photos on the leaflet. Usually prices are discretely displayed next to pictures in galleries. The leaflet contains a lot of contextual information about the pictures but as well as selling the pictures he has written about other products he has created as an artist, he talks a lot about his book the 'Bikes of Burden' this is a good sales idea as a lot of people will be more interested in purchasing a book instead of a more expensive canvas. I think overall the leaflet is not very attractive at all and is not very good quality but it does contain all of the essential information which is the most crucial feature for the leaflet.
Convoy: The Battle of the Atlantic
This leaflet is for an exhibition held on HMS Wellington, a war ship docked on the River Thames opposite the OXO Tower. It immediately clear that this leaflet is professionally produced to a very high standard. Whereas the leaflet for Hans Kemp looked like it had been made on someones mac and suggests a more temporary exhibition, this leaflet is professionally produced for an exhibition that is open for more than 6 months. It contains archive images in black and white with dramatic and distinctive typography, reminiscent of the period during which the pictures where taken, it is in no way trendy or fashionable, suggesting this is a leaflet that would appeal to a mainstream visitor, someone who is interested in the second world war. There is nothing for sale in this exhibition or leaflet, it is an exhibition that gives "both an overview of the course of the battle and a sense of what it was like to be there". The colour scheme of the leaflet seem to reflect the colours of a military uniform at that time, beige, green, and black and white. I think this is very relevant to the leaflet. I think all of the suggestions the leaflet hints at speaks to a particular target audience and this is something I would like to incorporate into my leaflet. |
The key design considerations for my leaflet that I am taking away from my research are:
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Meschac Gaba at the Tate Modern.
This leaflet came from within the Tate Modern gallery and is designed to give the visitor a lot of indepth information about the exhibition its written by Kerryn Greenberg i.e. someone who has a great passion for and an interest in the art on display and this comes accross in the depth and detail of the information in this leaflet there is information about individual pictures, information about the atrists life and analysis of the artists motivation behind his work. I think the leaflet has succesfully created a stylish minimalistic look to it the type face is clear and consistent yet still looks good. the only down side to the leaflet, which some could argued doesn't hinder the leaflet, is that it does not feature any pictures of the exhibition, considering the leaflet is given to you on the door of the exhibiton this is not such a bad thing, some could say that it leaves the reader in suspense to see the images. |
My Leaflet
Final curatorship task
Introduction
The Tate Modern is proud to present 'PAINTERS WITH CAMERAS' a unique exhibition that will examine the genre of Landscape Photography. Landscape Photography has come far since its origin in the 1850's. Derived from landscape painting, ways to capture the environment were pioneered by photographers like Gustave Le Gray, Carleton E. Watkins and Ansel Adams. Using cumbersome cameras they trecked acorss the American West, documenting the vast sweeping landscapes and producing powerful elegiac images.
At the turn of the Century however, the American dominance of Landscape Photography came under attack from the photo -secessionists and it is here that our exhibition starts. 'Pictorialism' developed on both sides of the Atlantic, described an approach to photography that sought to evoke an emotional response in the viewer. 'Pictorialism' referred to the photographer using techniques to manipulate a photo that otherwise is a normal photo in order to 'create' an image rather than simply recording'. At the time pictorialism started, photographic technology wasn't as advanced as it is today, so photographers created new ways of producing photographic effects with simple washes, light filters and a popular technique which involved rubbing emulsion off developing film pictures to create obscured and surreal images.
The exhibition will feature the work of photographers from these early beginnings to contemporary photographic artists who continue to alter the observed reality to create a powerful response in the viewer.
The Surrealist movement in Art informs the work of a lot of these photographers. Surrealism was an artistic movement that considered worked in the realm of dreams and the unconscious. Surrealism worked on the concept of projection - the idea that we put onto images our own unconscious thoughts and desires when interpreting them. The subconscious of the artist and that of the viewer would be revealed in the creation of and the gazing upon of the work. Many photographic images inspired by the Surrealist movement were created using the juxtaposition of unrelated and seemingly unconnected images. Surrealism's most famous contributors were Andre Breton (poet), Max Ernst (artist), Juan Miro (artist). Photography came to occupy a central role in surrealist artistic expression. It was precisely the advances in photography technology such as double exposure, combination printing, montage and solarisation in the 1950's that enabled photographers such as Man Ray, Herbert Bayer and Moris Tebard to create surrealist images that explored the human form, dreams and the unconscious.
Since the advent of digital photography, a new wave of technical exploitation has enhanced further the artists capacity to create unsettling and dream like imagery that excites and disturbs the viewer in equal measure.
At the turn of the Century however, the American dominance of Landscape Photography came under attack from the photo -secessionists and it is here that our exhibition starts. 'Pictorialism' developed on both sides of the Atlantic, described an approach to photography that sought to evoke an emotional response in the viewer. 'Pictorialism' referred to the photographer using techniques to manipulate a photo that otherwise is a normal photo in order to 'create' an image rather than simply recording'. At the time pictorialism started, photographic technology wasn't as advanced as it is today, so photographers created new ways of producing photographic effects with simple washes, light filters and a popular technique which involved rubbing emulsion off developing film pictures to create obscured and surreal images.
The exhibition will feature the work of photographers from these early beginnings to contemporary photographic artists who continue to alter the observed reality to create a powerful response in the viewer.
The Surrealist movement in Art informs the work of a lot of these photographers. Surrealism was an artistic movement that considered worked in the realm of dreams and the unconscious. Surrealism worked on the concept of projection - the idea that we put onto images our own unconscious thoughts and desires when interpreting them. The subconscious of the artist and that of the viewer would be revealed in the creation of and the gazing upon of the work. Many photographic images inspired by the Surrealist movement were created using the juxtaposition of unrelated and seemingly unconnected images. Surrealism's most famous contributors were Andre Breton (poet), Max Ernst (artist), Juan Miro (artist). Photography came to occupy a central role in surrealist artistic expression. It was precisely the advances in photography technology such as double exposure, combination printing, montage and solarisation in the 1950's that enabled photographers such as Man Ray, Herbert Bayer and Moris Tebard to create surrealist images that explored the human form, dreams and the unconscious.
Since the advent of digital photography, a new wave of technical exploitation has enhanced further the artists capacity to create unsettling and dream like imagery that excites and disturbs the viewer in equal measure.
Three Rooms of my Exhibition
My exhibition will take place in three rooms, each featuring three different genres of manipulated Landscape Photography. Each room will contain several sets of photographs, structured around a photographic movement and featuring the work of several key proponents of that movement. When seen as a whole however, the exhibition will be unified by the linking theme of the unconscious in landscape photography. The aim is also to create an exhibition that challenges a homogenous presentation, provoking thought and reflection in the observer. How the pieces are hung will enhance the concept of a manipulated reality. Some meticulously framed and hung images will appear alongside images without frames, negatives in light boxes will sit alongside sketch books and canvas prints, The aim is to underscore the diversity in nature by presenting an exhibition as diverse in its presentation as nature itself.
Room one. Pictorialism and photo-secession. 1900
The first room will feature avant-garde modernist photography returns to the Pictorialism movement, showcasing the unusual work of Steiglitz (1864 - 1946) and Steichen (1879 - 1973) 20th century black and white film Photography. Pictorialism refers to a movement in photography that dominated the 19th and 20th centuries and referred to a style of photography where the photographer manipulated the original image in order to create a new image. Manipulation was often in the form of soft focus, printing in more colours than black and white, the use of visible brush strokes on the image or even engraving. The aim was to project an emotional intent into the viewers imagination. English Photographer Henry Peach Robinson in 1869, a key proponent of Pictorialism referred to 'chiaroscuro' an italian word used by painters that refers to the dramatic use of lighting and shading to convey an expressive mood.
In this room, the work of Alfred Steiglitz (1864-1946) and Edward Steichen (1879- 1973) will be featured. Working during the early 20th century each belonged to a group of photographers who were part of an avant-garde Movement called Photo-secession. Led by Steiglitz, the group held the unusual view that what was important about a photograph was not the image in front of the camera, but how it was subsequently manipulated. The key function of their photographs was for the photographer to achieve their subjective vision. The term Photo-secession would also refer to the groups declaration of a "secession" from the artistic restriction of the time and particularly to the dominant forces in photography at the time, namely the camera club.
Edward Steichen (1879 - 1973) was an American photographer and one of the first people in the United States to use the Autochrome Lumiere process, an early colour photography process devised by the Lumiere brothers in France. He exhibitied with Stieglitz in 1902. Renowned for his fashion photography, as much as his landscape work, between the years of 1923 - 1938 Steichen was considered to be the most famous and most highly paid photographer in the world.
In this room, the work of Alfred Steiglitz (1864-1946) and Edward Steichen (1879- 1973) will be featured. Working during the early 20th century each belonged to a group of photographers who were part of an avant-garde Movement called Photo-secession. Led by Steiglitz, the group held the unusual view that what was important about a photograph was not the image in front of the camera, but how it was subsequently manipulated. The key function of their photographs was for the photographer to achieve their subjective vision. The term Photo-secession would also refer to the groups declaration of a "secession" from the artistic restriction of the time and particularly to the dominant forces in photography at the time, namely the camera club.
Edward Steichen (1879 - 1973) was an American photographer and one of the first people in the United States to use the Autochrome Lumiere process, an early colour photography process devised by the Lumiere brothers in France. He exhibitied with Stieglitz in 1902. Renowned for his fashion photography, as much as his landscape work, between the years of 1923 - 1938 Steichen was considered to be the most famous and most highly paid photographer in the world.
Alfred Stieglitz
1864 - Alfred Stieglitz born January 1st, in Hoboken, New Jersey, To prosperous German immigrant parents.
!878 - Family moves to New York
1886 - Stigelitz and his family move to Europe for 5 years. Stieglitz finds a passion for photography and he takes part in his first club and magazine competitions.
1890 - Returns to New York, becomes a partner in the Photocrombe Engraving Company.
1892 - Acquires the first four-by-five inch handheld camera and photographs New York cityscapes.
1903 - Begins editing and publishing camera works.
1910 - Curates ambitious exhibition in Buffalo, New York - "International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography
!916 - Meets Georgia O'Keeffe, who later becomes his wife.
!922 - Completes his first breakthrough photographic study of clouds during this year
1924 - Exhibits 61 prints, along with 51 paintings by his wife Georgia O'Keeffe at the Anderson Gallery
1932 - His first solo exhibition since 1925
1934 - His final one man exhibition is held at an American Place.
1941 - The Museum of Modern Art acquires a group of Stieglitz photographs. He re-unites with Steichen after a twenty year feud.
1946 - Steiglitz Dies in New York, July 13.
!878 - Family moves to New York
1886 - Stigelitz and his family move to Europe for 5 years. Stieglitz finds a passion for photography and he takes part in his first club and magazine competitions.
1890 - Returns to New York, becomes a partner in the Photocrombe Engraving Company.
1892 - Acquires the first four-by-five inch handheld camera and photographs New York cityscapes.
1903 - Begins editing and publishing camera works.
1910 - Curates ambitious exhibition in Buffalo, New York - "International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography
!916 - Meets Georgia O'Keeffe, who later becomes his wife.
!922 - Completes his first breakthrough photographic study of clouds during this year
1924 - Exhibits 61 prints, along with 51 paintings by his wife Georgia O'Keeffe at the Anderson Gallery
1932 - His first solo exhibition since 1925
1934 - His final one man exhibition is held at an American Place.
1941 - The Museum of Modern Art acquires a group of Stieglitz photographs. He re-unites with Steichen after a twenty year feud.
1946 - Steiglitz Dies in New York, July 13.
"The terminal" shot by Stieglitz would pave the way for a radical shift in how landscape photography was taken during the 1900's from static, posed landscape shots, to verite shots in cities capturing movement and life. . He took the image on a 4"x5" camera, a instrument considered inferior at the time. Photographers typically worked with 8x 10 view cameras which required a tripod. The 4 x 5 camera Stieglitz used gave him freedom and mobility to scour the city looking to capture moments in the street life around him. In this image the immediacy of the shot is underscored by the movement of the horses and steam arising from their hot bodies - a shot that would not have been possible with the larger format camera.
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'Spring showers - street Sweeper' by Stieglitz featured in the very first Photo-secession exhibition in New York and formed part of a series of photographs in which Stieglitz photographed his beloved New York through the prism of the elements. Rain, fog, mist, even snow provided the filter through which he photographed ordinary street scenes and gave them a romantic, hazy, contemplative mood. It was New York as it had never been seen before. The choice of shape, the elongated rectangle, is significant in its rejection of conventional landscape proportions. This is further underscored by the placing of the tree almost in the centre of the image drawing the viewers eye immediately to the solid trunk and cage around it.The definition of the trunk serves to further enhance the soft focus of all that is around it and forces the viewer o look at the photograph for an unusually long time in order to decipher what exactly is happening in the picture, or even which city it is in. The wet foreground is reminiscent of tropical storms in the far east which makes this a slightly disorientating photograph. The uncertainty of the image induces a contemplative dream like state in the observer a stark contrast to the reality of New York streets in 1902.
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Edward Steichen
1879 - Edward Steichen is born
1896, Steichen gets his first camera.
1899 - enters in his first exhibition
1902 - Went to New York and sold some of his art work to Stieglitz they became friends.
1918 - Steichen destroys his and solely focuses on photography.
1923 - Stated in Vanity Fair as the worlds best portrait photographer.
1938 - Earns enough money form sales to move to France.
1955 - After the war he became the director at the Museum of Modern Art. He takes part in The Family of Men, one of the most popular exhibitions in the history of photography.
1973 - Steichen dies March 25th.
1896, Steichen gets his first camera.
1899 - enters in his first exhibition
1902 - Went to New York and sold some of his art work to Stieglitz they became friends.
1918 - Steichen destroys his and solely focuses on photography.
1923 - Stated in Vanity Fair as the worlds best portrait photographer.
1938 - Earns enough money form sales to move to France.
1955 - After the war he became the director at the Museum of Modern Art. He takes part in The Family of Men, one of the most popular exhibitions in the history of photography.
1973 - Steichen dies March 25th.
'It is the penumbra , between the clear visibility of things and their total extinction in darkness, when the concreteness of appearances becomes merged in half realised, half baffled vision , that spirit seems to disengage from matter to envelop it with a mysterty of souls- suggestion '. (Charles Caffin 1910, Camera Work reviewing the work of Edward Steichen.
Edward Steichen was a great friend of the French Sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) best known for his sculptures such as 'the Kiss' and 'the thinker' , he had been commissioned to produce a sculpture of the renowned French Author Honore de Balzac. Steicher referred to the brooding monument as 'the most wonderful thing he had ever seen ... it looked like a mountain come to life' Rodin had kept the sculpture in his studio and encourage Steichen to photograph it. Rodin wanted Steichen to ' make the world understand my Balzac with your picture' and Steichen photographed the statue at night on the terrace. According to the Met Musem in New York where the original hangs, He used various exposures ranging from 15 minutes to an hour, to create the hazy half light background through which the enormous shape of Balzac would emerge, indeed like a giant, dominating the landscape as he dominated French literature.
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The flatiron, 1904. Steichen photographed the iconic and extraordinary flat iron building in New York many times. Using the technique he learnt from the Lumiere brothers in Paris, Steichen managed to mimmick the colours used by a contemporary of his, Artist James Whistler who worked in a similar way to produce oil paintings that evoked a dreamy and pensive mood by his use of colour. Steichen mimicks these 'Nocturne' paintings by brushing layers of pigmented gum bichcromate over platinum prints. The juxtapostion of the resolutely modern subject matter with the signature 'dreamy' colour scheme suggests Steichen is placing photography on an even level with the more widely accepted fine art of the times.
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Room two. Modernism in Photography.
Room two of the exhibition explores Modernism in Photography. Stieglitz began the movement with Photo Secession which was then developed further by the three photographers in Room two. Alvin Langdon Coburn, Rodchenko and Man Ray. Eclectic photographers who broke away from the conventions of photography laid down before Stieglitz and continued to experiment with form, structure and technique.
Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966)
1882 - Born on 11 June in Boston, Massachusetts, USA
1898 - His cousin, photographer F Holland Day, encourages Coburn's photographic care
1900 - English photographer Frederick Evans invites Coburn to exhibit work with members of the prestigious Linked Ring group, which he later joins
1902 - Begins studying with New York photographer Gertrude Käsebier and joins the Photo-Secession, the American counterpart to the Linked Ring. Opens a studio in New York City to exhibit his prints
1903 - Given exhibition at the Camera Club of New York and one of his photographs is published in Alfred Stieglitz's influential journal, Camera Work
1904 - Travels to London with a commission to photograph famous subjects, including George Bernard Shaw and Henry James
1913 - Coburn's portraits published in the book Men of Mark
1917 - Makes a series of abstract Vortographs, using mirrors to create abstract shapes
1920 - Becomes increasingly interested in mysticism, and he abandons the camera
1922 - Publishes a second book of portraits, More Men of Mark
1930 - Destroys almost 15,000 of his glass and film negatives
1966 - His autobiography, edited by photo-historians Helmut and Alison Gernsheim, is published. Dies on 2 November at his home in Rhos-on-Sea, Denbighshire
1898 - His cousin, photographer F Holland Day, encourages Coburn's photographic care
1900 - English photographer Frederick Evans invites Coburn to exhibit work with members of the prestigious Linked Ring group, which he later joins
1902 - Begins studying with New York photographer Gertrude Käsebier and joins the Photo-Secession, the American counterpart to the Linked Ring. Opens a studio in New York City to exhibit his prints
1903 - Given exhibition at the Camera Club of New York and one of his photographs is published in Alfred Stieglitz's influential journal, Camera Work
1904 - Travels to London with a commission to photograph famous subjects, including George Bernard Shaw and Henry James
1913 - Coburn's portraits published in the book Men of Mark
1917 - Makes a series of abstract Vortographs, using mirrors to create abstract shapes
1920 - Becomes increasingly interested in mysticism, and he abandons the camera
1922 - Publishes a second book of portraits, More Men of Mark
1930 - Destroys almost 15,000 of his glass and film negatives
1966 - His autobiography, edited by photo-historians Helmut and Alison Gernsheim, is published. Dies on 2 November at his home in Rhos-on-Sea, Denbighshire
'Why should not the camera throw off the shackles of conventional representation and attempt something fresh and untried?... Why, I ask you earnestly, need we go on making commonplace little exposures of subjects that may be sorted into groups of landscapes, portraits and figure studies? Think of the joy of doing something which it would be impossible to classify, or to tell which was the top and which the bottom!'
Alvin Langdon Coburn, American born British photographer . He said ' My aim in photography is always to convey a mood and not to impart local information. This is not an easy matter, for the camera if left to its own devices will simply impart local information to the exclusiveness of everything else' Chosen for the fact that it is in London, this image conveys a sense of tranquility even though it is a street scene, with snow on the ground. The presence of tracks suggests that many other horse drawn vehicles have passed by, but the relative solitude of the driver and his horse drawn cab create a sense of peace in the image.
The Octopus (1912) is probably the most famous of Coburn's photographs. Taken from the top of the Metropolitan Insurance Building, which was the tallest building in New York in 1912, it shows a view of Madison Square. Octopus refers to the dark pathways leading out from the central bed covered in snow, creating an image that resembles the tentacles of an octopus. It is claimed that this was the first ever photograph to be taken of a city from 'above' and for Coburn exemplified the claims of the secessionists that photography is an artistic activity. It's birds eye view literally presented a view of the city that had never been seen before.
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The Octopus was the beginning of a new photographic development, where later in his career Langdon developed a technique called 'Vortography'. The vortograph is an abstract form of photography that creates kaleidoscopic repetitions by photographing objects through a triangular arrangement of three mirrors. The process dates back to 1917 when Langdon invented it. He then photographed the city using these images. Striking, bur hard to determine what they are of, the actual landscape becomes secondary to the image and to the technique used. Ezra Pound wrote, ‘The Vortoscope […] freed photography from the material limitations of depicting recognizable natural objects. Vortoscope is useless to a man with no eye for form or pattern.’ Likened to music in it's pattern and, here the silhouetted forms of jagged geometrical white, black and mid-tone shapes symbolise the move away from the ‘naturalness’ of photography.
In 1917, he experimented with still-life photographs shot through a home-made deviceincorporating three mirrors and producing an effect similar to a kaleidoscope. The resulting Vor tographs are considered the first consciously created abstract photographs ever made and were widely discussed at the tim |
Aleksander Rodchenko.
Born in St Petersburg in Russia in 1891, Rodchenko as a key proponent of Futurism and later of the Constructivist movement . An Artistic movement in Russia in the 1920’s whose members favoured strict geometric forms and crisp graphi design. Declaring painting dead in the early 1920’s Rodchenko took up photography and went on to produce the very iconic photo montages we associate with the Russian Contructivism and the Communist movement of the time.
1891 Rodchenko born in St Petersburg, Russia
1914 Graduates from Kazan School of Fine Arts
1915 Moves to Moscow and enrols in Stroganov School of Applied Art
1917 1921 Exhibits in Moscow
1921 Begins work in photography and Photomontage.
1922 Leading light of the Contructivist movement
1923 Receives commissions to produce photographic work for Lef Group and Mayakovsky poem ‘Pro Eto’.
1956 Dies in Moscow.
1914 Graduates from Kazan School of Fine Arts
1915 Moves to Moscow and enrols in Stroganov School of Applied Art
1917 1921 Exhibits in Moscow
1921 Begins work in photography and Photomontage.
1922 Leading light of the Contructivist movement
1923 Receives commissions to produce photographic work for Lef Group and Mayakovsky poem ‘Pro Eto’.
1956 Dies in Moscow.
The two photographs were taken by Rodchenko within two years of each other, when his photographic career was at it's height. Constructivism was a powerful movement and the political climate of the time - post the Russian Revolution but at the beginning of the rise of Stalin and the Marxist-Leninist era. A time when the workers would rise up politically and a quieter cultural revolution took place. These two images capture the essence of the rise to power of the working proletariat. The soaring tower of the electrical pylon, framed in such a way to enhance the power and rise of the structure. Reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower, it is an extraordinary feat of engineering, and the use of line in the image, fits with the Constructivists love of clean lines and clear graphics - it suggests purpose, power and rising to great heights.
The second image is of a demonstration in 1930. Taken from above - in itself a still unconventional way of photographing scenes, the clean lines of the marchers, enhanced by the long shadows cast either by first light or last light of the day again give the image a similar sense of drive and purpose. The humans however are indistinguishable and serve to create shapes and form in the image. They look like neat ants, perhaps suggesting they are insignificant - following each other regardless of where they are going.
The second image is of a demonstration in 1930. Taken from above - in itself a still unconventional way of photographing scenes, the clean lines of the marchers, enhanced by the long shadows cast either by first light or last light of the day again give the image a similar sense of drive and purpose. The humans however are indistinguishable and serve to create shapes and form in the image. They look like neat ants, perhaps suggesting they are insignificant - following each other regardless of where they are going.
Man Ray
Best known for his photograms and portrait photography, Man Ray has a place in this exhibition as a pioneer of photographic techniques, film and surrealist explorations in art . May Ray's explorations of the human form lend them a landscape type form as his photographic techniques enhance contours and shapes. His combination of human and landscape paves the way for room 3. May Ray was the only American artist to play a major role in the Dada and Surrealist movements.
1890 - August 27, Man Ray born Emmanuel Radnitzky, in America
1897 - Move to New York.
1904 - Enters school " I came out with a complete technical training in the fundamentals of architecture, engineering and lettering."
1917 - Paints Suicide one of his first aerographs ' suprising results, it could have been photography, though the subjects were not at all photographic.
1922 - Officially Established as a photographer Man Ray becomes a fashion photographer for Paul Poiret and creates his first film The Return To Reason.
1976 − 18th November, Man Ray Dies in Paris.
1897 - Move to New York.
1904 - Enters school " I came out with a complete technical training in the fundamentals of architecture, engineering and lettering."
1917 - Paints Suicide one of his first aerographs ' suprising results, it could have been photography, though the subjects were not at all photographic.
1922 - Officially Established as a photographer Man Ray becomes a fashion photographer for Paul Poiret and creates his first film The Return To Reason.
1976 − 18th November, Man Ray Dies in Paris.
Surrealists considered themselves experimental in all things and with his girlfriend and muse Lee Miller, Man Ray developed a technique called Solarisation which gave images a ghostly aura. Born from an accident in the dark room by his assistant, Man Ray produced images like the one in the middle in which the image is reversed in tone, either wholly or partially. Dark areas appear light and light areas appear dark. It is a technique for which he became well known and which he used in his many nude photographs of his lover Lee Miller. He photographed he body with such proximity and using solarisation that the contours of her body were like landscape images. In 1935 May Ray produced 'the Fly and the Landscape' - an image taken from the fly's eye view. The starling perspective in this image forces the viewer to expand and reconsider his view of the world. The insect is disproportionately large , giving it importance it does not have in real life.
In 'Observatory time - the lovers' one of Man Ray's most memorable paintings is featured in this black and white photograph. The lips are those of his departed lover, Lee Miller ( who was also one of Eduard Steichen's models), floating in the sky above the Paris Observatory. The nude (Miller) lies on her side underneath the painting on a sofa and at her feet is a chess board. Man Ray considered a grid of squares " the basis for all art.. it helps you understand the structure to master a sense of order' , but the image is held to be an exploration of desire, lust and rage for the image was created after Miller had left him.
In 'Observatory time - the lovers' one of Man Ray's most memorable paintings is featured in this black and white photograph. The lips are those of his departed lover, Lee Miller ( who was also one of Eduard Steichen's models), floating in the sky above the Paris Observatory. The nude (Miller) lies on her side underneath the painting on a sofa and at her feet is a chess board. Man Ray considered a grid of squares " the basis for all art.. it helps you understand the structure to master a sense of order' , but the image is held to be an exploration of desire, lust and rage for the image was created after Miller had left him.
Room Three - Contemporary Landscape artists.
The third room of my exhibition follows the new movement of contemporary artists. This rooms displays the abstract, controversial, and surreal work of Cristina Venedict and Silvia Grav and the minimalism of Michael Wesley. Combining portraits and landscape, people and places, evokes a different emotional connection from each viewer, the peaceful and sinister effect to each image unsettles the viewer but leaves them with an enticing feeling. Contemporary photography has opened up photography into new ways of editing photos and holds many new and interesting, often surreal, ideas that have never been tried before, with new and amazing images being produced to pave the way for future photographic movements, it leaves viewers thinking what is the future for photography. Wesley brings the exhibition full circle, using the same technique as the Daguerreotype of the early 1900's he creates extraordinary images with pin hole cameras in which landscapes appear to dissolve and yet are landscapes in creation.
Cristina Venedict
Crisitna Venedict creates photos that combine people and places in a surreal, almost sinister manor. Venedict manages to create a scene that looks like something out of a ghost story by making high contrast black and white photos edited with dramatic shadowy skies and clouds surrounding the frame, the persons in the photo are often silhouettes or are blurred by a kind of mist, the landscape usually consist of grassy paths and dead lifeless trees almost like she is creating an insight into the dark side if the afterlife.
2007 - "History of Milliseconds", feature in photomagazine
2008 - First solo exhibition "In Wonderland" displayed in a Romanian art gallery "Stefan Luchian"
2012 - Finalist in Professional Women Photographers 37th Anniversary International Women's Juried Exhibition
2012 - Group exhibition "New Wave Photography", The Crypt Gallery, London
2013 - Finalist in Camera Obscura Journal Spring 2013 Photography Competition
2013 - First place in Prix de la Photographie, Paris
2013 - Group Exhibition "Suprarealism si dubla expunere"
2013 - Official selection at the Kontinent Award catagory fine art
2008 - First solo exhibition "In Wonderland" displayed in a Romanian art gallery "Stefan Luchian"
2012 - Finalist in Professional Women Photographers 37th Anniversary International Women's Juried Exhibition
2012 - Group exhibition "New Wave Photography", The Crypt Gallery, London
2013 - Finalist in Camera Obscura Journal Spring 2013 Photography Competition
2013 - First place in Prix de la Photographie, Paris
2013 - Group Exhibition "Suprarealism si dubla expunere"
2013 - Official selection at the Kontinent Award catagory fine art
Cristina Venedict's consistent use of high contrast, black and white editing is what makes that feel of sinister spirituality, which is again a constant element to Venedict's work. I find the boat silhouette the most interesting part of the image, it seems as though it is the only thing in proportion and the world around it is distorted. There is something incongruous about the peaceful postures of the men in the boat and the bird floating on the wind and the sky behind that is increasingly menacing to the left hand side of the frame. It is as if the men are unaware of the impending doom that we might imagine the sky might bring. In many ways this image reminds me of Dorthy's house in the Wizard of Oz, just before the tornado picks it up and smashes it. The title of the image is Seom which may be refrence to the Korean film of the same title, that is so gruesome that audiences have been known to pass out when watching it.
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The first thing the viewer notices about Venedict's pictures is the unsettling spiritual feeling. The high contrast black and white, with distorted old barns featuring in a lot of her photos, gives each picture a sinister look. Her images also consist of one centre piece that the viewers eye is instantly attracted to, in the case of the picture on the right the old barn is the centre piece and it surrounded by mist, clouds, mysterious landscapes. I find one of the most interesting factors to this photo is the other small elements, they almost look like symbolic objects that link to Venedict herself, I find the longer you look at the picture the more you find, the little child to the left of the stairs, the blanket blowing out of the window, the bucket in the middle of the pathway.
Venedict uses an interesting method of composition in this picture, with the fence being the in the foreground and the main thing in focus you would expect her intention to be that your eye is attracted straight to that but I find that the tree and shed in the background are the main feature of the image with the long exposure effect on the clouds almost creating streams of light surrounding the tree |
Silvia Grav
Silvia Grav is a 19 year old photographer based in Milan she creates black and white photo manipulations often feature contrasting textures melting into familiar forms. The reason I am considering including her in the exhibition is although her images are of human form, they are manipulated to give a sense of double exposure using clouds and forms from nature. They are a hybrid between portrait and landscape - the natural elements enhancing the underlying emotion of the human form. Clouds and steam shooting forth from human orifices, shadowy skies and dappled light crossing faces - her work is very evocative, reminiscent of the work of Salvador Dali.
"I think my work is totally selfish. It’s impossible to prevent that the opinion and taste of others influence your work; these things remain in your brain unconsciously. But consciously, I’ve always taken pictures by my own need. It’s a relief for me to give meaning, although the meaning is often absurd, to a life that sometimes I can’t find"
"I think my work is totally selfish. It’s impossible to prevent that the opinion and taste of others influence your work; these things remain in your brain unconsciously. But consciously, I’ve always taken pictures by my own need. It’s a relief for me to give meaning, although the meaning is often absurd, to a life that sometimes I can’t find"
Timeline 2013.
-Madrid. Performance. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.
-Senegal. Collective exhibition. “Malagagorée”
-Madrid. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Video proyection "Lolita"
-Málaga. Collective exhibition. Casa del libro.
-Málaga. Collective exhibition. “RESET”. Fundación Cruzcampo.
-León. Collective exhibition. “Animales” Bunker Fest.
-Madrid. Collective photoproyection.
2011
-Málaga. Collective exhibition. “Femme Fatale, del encanto a la perversión”
-Madrid. Performance. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.
-Senegal. Collective exhibition. “Malagagorée”
-Madrid. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Video proyection "Lolita"
-Málaga. Collective exhibition. Casa del libro.
-Málaga. Collective exhibition. “RESET”. Fundación Cruzcampo.
-León. Collective exhibition. “Animales” Bunker Fest.
-Madrid. Collective photoproyection.
2011
-Málaga. Collective exhibition. “Femme Fatale, del encanto a la perversión”
In her work Grav talks of the bitter sweet experience of emotional pain. The woman in this image is in agony. Her pain symbolised by the dark matter around her and the galaxy emanating from her or enveloping her. It is a modern twist on Atlas carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Grav uses a space landscape which finds its way into this exhibition because as this exhibition has progressed through chronological time and embraced advances in photographic technique, Grav stands at the forefront of manipulated landscape photography. Space, the elements and galaxies are the landscape of the future.
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The synergy between human form and landscape, similar to the themes explored by Man Ray in room 2 in the 1930's, is further developed by Grav in a series of self portraits in 2013. The ghostly aura developed by solarisation is similar to the cloud like effect she creates in photoshop. Like the photo-secessionists of the early 1900's Grav uses her own emotional state to drive and inform her photography. Pain is the principal force she uses and seeks to sublimate it in her art. In this image, her proud and defiant profile, is softened by the cotton wool like cloud structures around her, yet menacing at the same time as there are stormy undertones to the cloud structure.
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MICHAEL WESLEY
Michael Wesley closes our exhibition. His approach is the antithesis of Henri Cartier- Bresson's 'decisive moment'. He argues that it deconstructs this notion by 'abandoning representation and moving away from the dominant voyeurism that dominates photography'. His open shutter pictures give a very different sense of photography. Wesley's urban landscapes are taken using a technique of leaving the shutter open for a very long time. Not minutes, or hours, or days, but years. Using a home made pin hole camera, tiny apertures and a special combination of filters, he is able to minimise light hitting the film and creates blurred images of a city, not dissolving as at first appears, but of a city in creation.
2012 - Collected light, Galerie am Stein, Schärding
5th Month of Photography, Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
Pawlow und Pawlow, Pavlovs Dog, Berlin
2011 - Potsdamer Platz 1997 – 2006 Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
2010 - Time Works, Galerie Nusser & Baumgart, München
Time Works, Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
2009 - Palast der Republik, Fahnemann Projects, Berlin
2007 - Stilleben, Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
Stil Life, Galeria Baro Cruz, São Paulo
Men and Places. Chandigarh (with Lina Kim), Galeria Blanca Soto, Madrid
2006 - Begegnung mit Capar David Friedrich, Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin (K)
Open Shutter Project, Fahnemann Projekte, Berlin
2005 - East German Landscape + Open Shutter, Galeria Baró Cruz, São Paulo, Brazil
Die Erfindung des Unsichtbaren, Guardini Galerie Berlin + Fotohof Salzburg (K)
2004 - Open Shutter Project, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
2003 - Iconografias Metropolitanas, Fahnemann Projekte, Berlin
2001 - American Landscape, Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
2000 - American Landscape, Museum Schloss Moyland
1998 - On Photography, Stefan Stux Gallery, New York
1997 - Analytical work, Museum voor Fotografie, Antwerpen
1995 - Palazzi Di Roma, Galleria Primo Piano, Rom
5th Month of Photography, Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
Pawlow und Pawlow, Pavlovs Dog, Berlin
2011 - Potsdamer Platz 1997 – 2006 Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
2010 - Time Works, Galerie Nusser & Baumgart, München
Time Works, Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
2009 - Palast der Republik, Fahnemann Projects, Berlin
2007 - Stilleben, Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
Stil Life, Galeria Baro Cruz, São Paulo
Men and Places. Chandigarh (with Lina Kim), Galeria Blanca Soto, Madrid
2006 - Begegnung mit Capar David Friedrich, Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin (K)
Open Shutter Project, Fahnemann Projekte, Berlin
2005 - East German Landscape + Open Shutter, Galeria Baró Cruz, São Paulo, Brazil
Die Erfindung des Unsichtbaren, Guardini Galerie Berlin + Fotohof Salzburg (K)
2004 - Open Shutter Project, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
2003 - Iconografias Metropolitanas, Fahnemann Projekte, Berlin
2001 - American Landscape, Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
2000 - American Landscape, Museum Schloss Moyland
1998 - On Photography, Stefan Stux Gallery, New York
1997 - Analytical work, Museum voor Fotografie, Antwerpen
1995 - Palazzi Di Roma, Galleria Primo Piano, Rom
Both these images were taken over a three year period. The image above shows the passage of the sun across the sky in that time in a series of streaks of light. In the Museum of Modern Art, skyscrapers frame the image, but the rest of the fabric of the building and centre of the image appears defocussed and as if it is disappearing before our eyes. Taken over three years, the incredibly long exposure actually reveals a landscape in creation.
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Wesley said ' I am inviting the viewer to imagine the birth of a new building. Time impresses itself on the image in different ways: static buildings are rendered as delineated solid structures, but movement creates mysterious spaces. Wesley's images like the photo-secessionists at the beginning of the exhibition are eerily devoid of people. They are deduced to a blur and traffic only leaves a blur of light. Not only do these images take years to create, but like the earlier work of Grav, they require time for the viewer to understand and read what they are seeing. In this creation of time, an emotional response can grow and take place. Wesley also states that 'The picture hides a lot and shows little' encouraging an enquiring engagement from the viewer. ' My images opens a view into a layer of time beyond our perception and that makes it easy to reflect about humankind and the city' .Wesley's images like all of the artists in the exhibition are not for passive viewing. They require engagement, imagination and response.
CONCLUSION.
This exhibition sought to explore Landscape Photography throughout the last century and in particular photographers whose work explored the power of the image to evoke a sub conscious or emotional response in the observer, to challenge and perplex or to induce a dream like state of reverie in equal measure. From the early Photo-secessionists who used creative techniques to evoke a sense of reverie in the viewer, the exhibition comes full circle to Michael Wesley who creates his own pinhole camera technique and creates images that take years to complete. Via the simplest form of technology, in the last 50 years, just as the world has become more Industrialised, we have witnessed a resurgence of artistic interest in landscape and nature. Contemporary photographers view the landscape through various lenses and in particular like Grav and Venedict through the use of photoshop . The varied approaches of all the photographers in the exhibition defy Cartier Bresson's idea that a photograph captures a moment in time'. The works in this exhibition require you to spend more than a moment, to engage on an emotional level, to puzzle over the image and think deeply about what the photographer intended and how you feel about it. The complex engagement with these images, reflects in some way how we engage with nature - endlessly complex and meaningful.
The thread of surrealism carries through the exhibition. The Photosecessionists seeking to impart other meaning to their work, finds full expression in the 1950's with the work of Man Ray and the minimalism of Rodchenko. The two then evolve into the work of Grav who uses her own emotional pain to drive her photography, and the work of Christina Venedict who uses modern photographic techniques to create nightmarish landscapes. Michael Wesley brings something to landscape the human eye can never record - the passage of time.
In my own work I will take the theme of Surrealism in Contemporary Landscape photography and explore the idea that photo manipulation can reveal and explore unconscious processes and create an emotional response in the viewer.
The thread of surrealism carries through the exhibition. The Photosecessionists seeking to impart other meaning to their work, finds full expression in the 1950's with the work of Man Ray and the minimalism of Rodchenko. The two then evolve into the work of Grav who uses her own emotional pain to drive her photography, and the work of Christina Venedict who uses modern photographic techniques to create nightmarish landscapes. Michael Wesley brings something to landscape the human eye can never record - the passage of time.
In my own work I will take the theme of Surrealism in Contemporary Landscape photography and explore the idea that photo manipulation can reveal and explore unconscious processes and create an emotional response in the viewer.
Bibliography
Books.
Bonham Carter,C , Hodge D
The Contemporary Art Book. Goodman Books
Bush,K Everything was moving, photography from the 60's and 70's. Barbican Art Galleries. 2012
Clark,D. Photography in 100 words. Argentum 2009
Eskildsen,U Street and Studio, An urban history of photography, Tate Publishing 2008
Higgins, J. Why it doesn't have to be in Focus, Modern Photography explained. Thames and Hudson 2010.
Lardinois,B Magnum, Magnum Thames and Hudson 2007
Internet.
www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=1164
www.photogravure.com/history/keyfigures_coburn.html
www.cristinavenedict.ro/
www.silviagrav.berta.me
www.wesely.org
www.masters-of-photography.com
www.metmuseum.org
www.moma.org
Bonham Carter,C , Hodge D
The Contemporary Art Book. Goodman Books
Bush,K Everything was moving, photography from the 60's and 70's. Barbican Art Galleries. 2012
Clark,D. Photography in 100 words. Argentum 2009
Eskildsen,U Street and Studio, An urban history of photography, Tate Publishing 2008
Higgins, J. Why it doesn't have to be in Focus, Modern Photography explained. Thames and Hudson 2010.
Lardinois,B Magnum, Magnum Thames and Hudson 2007
Internet.
www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=1164
www.photogravure.com/history/keyfigures_coburn.html
www.cristinavenedict.ro/
www.silviagrav.berta.me
www.wesely.org
www.masters-of-photography.com
www.metmuseum.org
www.moma.org