Review: Wells, Photography: A Critical Introduction: Ch 6: On and beyond the white walls: Photography as Art , 4th ed, 2009

An example of Etienne-Jules Marey's 
chronophotography

This chapter looks at photography as Art, which Wells defines as “the web of practices relating to the Arts establishment (galleries, museums, public and private sponsorship, auction houses...) by contrast with more general understandings of photogrpahy as an ‘art’ or expressive skill.”  p259

From its inception there has been debate about the nature of photography.  Technology and art were considered distinct categories and photography successfully blurred the line.  Initially the emphasis was on the science, but as those trained in traditional art techniques began to produce photographs, the scope of photography widened.

Clarke, The Photograph, Chapter 10: The Photograph Manipulated, 1997

Alvin Coburn - Ezra Pound vortograph 1917

Perhaps the most notable aspect of Clarke’s review of photographic manipulation is the absence of any discussion of computer technology.  The book was published in 1997, which means Clarke was probably writing as late as 1996, a bit before the boom in digital imaging and the rise of Photoshop and other editing software.  Just as well as we get an overview of what was possible in the days before mass computing, though Clarke confines his discussion to 20th century photography, omitting such 19th century manipulation such as combination prints or differential focus.  

What comes through clearly in this survey is that photo manipulation was a practice of those who had a point to make, of photographers or artists aware of their role as producers of images.  They were ideologically, philosophically, and/or politically motivated.  Not many, it seems, manipulated photos simply because the outcome was aesthetically pleasing.  There were perhaps a few - Rejlander’s combinations prints, Coborn’s vortographs, Man Ray’s Rayograms.  But for the most part those who manipulated did so in order to create images that knowingly mocked photographic and aesthetic convention, perhaps most clearly seen in the philosophy of ostranenie, or making strange.  Among the many schools or trends Clarke surveys are constructivism, surrealism, and satire.  Techniques included unusual perspective, use of mirrors, multiple exposure, collage/montage, and the photogram.  

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Clarke, The Photograph, Chapter 9: The Photograph as Fine Art, 1997

Having just finished Barrett’s chapter on Theory, I found much of this chapter repetitive.  Clarke takes a slightly narrower focus, largely ignoring postmodern ideas and arguments to present an overview of the Photograph as Art. He cites Stieglitz as the father of the movement to elevate the cultural value of the photograph, principally through his journals (291 and Camera Work) and his NYC gallery (located at 291 Fifth Avenue).  Clarke quotes Stieglitz’ description of the events surrounding one his better known images, The Steerage, to elaborate on how the photographer conceived his work.

Stieglitz speaks here as a formalist.  Indeed, the entire scene is described as a composition, “a picture of shapes” which bears no relationship to the scene itself.  The separate elements are reconstituted by the eye in terms of a planar geometry.  There is no interest in the particulars of the scene or the condition of the figures.  Rather, the whole is referred to an implied higher frame of reference which, ultimately, is centered in the photographer/artist;  what Stieglitz refers to as the “feeling” he “had about life.”  (p169)