Barrett, Criticizing Photographs, Ch 7 Theory: Is It Art?: Evaluating Photographs, 3rd ed, 2000

http://jonnicheatwood.com/

This chapter seeks to shine light on the assumptions underlying art criticism. It has to do with ideas about aesthetics, or definitions of art and the process of art. Barrett notes that from the earliest days photographers and critics argued about whether photography was art. Museums largely settled this issue by adding photographs to their collections, but by the 1980’s the question had shifted to whether some types of art - multimedia objects incorporating photographic images - could in fact be considered photography. Whereas much of photographic art theorizing typically took place among photographers, the late 20th century saw a number of outsiders join the discussion, most notably Susan Sontag, Roland Barthes, Rudolph Arnheim, and EH Gombrich. Among photographers writing on theory, Barrett notes Edward Weston, Paul Strand, and August Sander. The other important voice in aesthetic discussions is that of the museum and gallery curator, who through his decisions about what to buy or display influences the topic or tone of discussion. Barrett notes in particular John Szarkowski, Director of Photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art (1962-1991). In his survey of theoretical positions, Barrett reviews the following:

Realism and Conventionalism

The dispute here is about reality.  Can it be reproduced by the camera, or is the “reality” of the photograph simply another cultural convention?  The more common view for most of the 20th century was in the power of the photograph to represent reality.  Even today most people believe a photograph is just this.  Joel Snyder argues that the camera uses a round lens but produces rectangular images precisely because this shape was the predominant cultural convention. What is “real” to us and how we present it and reproduce it may not be so “real” to other groups of people across time and place.  Today the line between real and unreal is being blurred by easy-to-use image enhancing software.  

Modernism and Postmodernism
Perhaps the best way to see this pair is through the lens of work and text:

 A [modern] work is singular, speaking in one voice, that of the author, which leads the reader to look for one meaning, presumed to be the author’s.  A postmodern text, however, implies that any piece of literature or work of art is not the product of a free and unique individual but rather a field of citations and correspondences in continual permutation in which many voices speak, blend, and clash.  For postmodernists, many readings (interpretations and understandings) of a text are desirable - no single reading can be conclusive or complete.  Further, reading should not simply be seen as consumption but as production. 

Modernism sees history as linear improvement, with fixed notions of reality.  Postmodernism sees all notions as bounded, all knowledge partial.  

Modernists conceive photography as an “art” in which the image speaks for itself. It can do this because the image is a reproduction of reality.  Straight approaches are therefore favored.  Commercial imagery is shunned, as is any work of instrumental purpose.   Form is prized over content, black and white over color.  The image stands for itself.  The editor of Aperture Magazine, Minor White, refused to add captions to photos in the belief that the image was best understood in its purity, without added context.  

Postmodern evaluations have identified infinite reproducibility and adaptability as primary features of photography.  Marxist critics have noted that liberal art evokes sympathy and compassion, rather than collective struggle and resistance, while Feminist critics point to the use of the female body as an object of aesthetic fetishism while denying women roles as creators of art or beauty.  

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