Exploring Modernist Themes in Photography A Brief History

Exploring Modernist Themes in Photography

A (Brief) History of the Development of the Modernist Aesthetic

Modern photography was not born in isolation. It evolved from a number of sources in the first decade of the twentieth century. As with the inventions of photography the century before, individual artists and writers forged new directions through experimentation. They redefined the position of photography with other arts around the world. Photographs played an integral role in progressive art movements from futurism, cubism, Dadaism, and constructivism, to surrealism. Some artists expanded new subjects and applications with the camera. Others invented new art forms with elements of chance, from related mediums such as photomontage and photograms to the printed page. Nontraditional media and materials provided an endless means for Coburn, Alvin Langdon (Am. 1882 -1966) innovations as the artist applied inventive approaches to past standards. St. Paul's From Ludgate Circus from the London Portfolio, 1905 Hand-pulled photogravure 16 x 11 7/8 Steve Yates IDEA Photographic: After Modernism

Dubreuil, Pierre (French 1872 -1944) Interpretation Picasso: The Railway, c. 1911 Modern photogravure, 9 x 7 1/2

White, Clarence H. (Am. -1925) Shipbuilding, Bath, Maine, 1917 Platinum print, 4 11/16 x 3 5/8

Stieglitz, Alfred (Am. 1864 -1946) Equivalent, 1929 Gelatin silver photograph with wax, 3 5/8 x 4 5/8

Themes Pictorialism Geometric Form Photogram Aesthetic

Surrealism Self as Subject Cultural Landscape

Postmodern Appropriation From the Avant-Garde

Beyond the Medium Feminism as Ethos Constructed Subjects

What is a Series? – A body of related works describing an indepth exploration of a particular artistic theme. – A series should reflect a process of investigation of a specific visual idea.

Claude Monet “Haystacks”

Jim Dine “Hearts”

Hiroshi Sugimoto