Modernism was the first time
things could be mass-produced. Huge ships were built which could carry both
goods and people. This exchange of goods brought people from other countries,
which also brought about the trade of idea. Huge amount of technical
development, factories began to be built, people moved away from the
countryside and moved into big cities usually to work in the new factories.
People moved away
from decorated hand crafted items and move towards mass-produced things.
Modernism in photography was all about as little alterations as possible, the
photographs were left how they were taken and this was known as pure or
straight photography. The photographers that worked like this didn’t want
photographs to look like paintings; they wanted photography for the qualities
of a photograph.
Pure and
straight photography.
- - Depth of field, as much as of the
image in focus as possible.
- - Contrast, strong use of full tonal
range from black to white.
- - Exquisite hand printing, no
manipulation.
- - Subject matter, art genres e.g., still
life, the nude, landscapes etc.
- - The city, people in relation to technology.
h
The
steerage 1907 is another Steiglitz image, which shows a massive shift between
pictorialist and modernist fashions. The steerage was taken on a boat this can
clearly be seen from the gangway across the photograph. The upper-class
passengers are on the top floor of the boat where as the people on the lower
decks are the lower class passengers. The people on the top deck are
respectable and wearing hats,
which would have only been owned by the rich, the people on the lower deck are
clothed with blankets and sheets. The people on the lower deck would have been
immigrants. From Graham Clarkes book “the photograph” - Steiglitz bound for
Europe had been meandering around the second class deck when he came across a
group of figures in the steerage who were on there way back after being denied
entry at Ellis island, been confronted by a scene of abject human defeat.” When
Steiglitz sees the photograph he doesn’t take any notice of the social aspects
of the scene, he simply sees shapes in a way, which he thinks would make an
artistic photograph.
In chapter 9 of G. Clarke's book "The photograph" he talks about the steerage and what this photograph meant. In groups we tried to pick apart this small part of the book and come up with the key points of what Clarke was saying in his book. The points we came up with were;
- Modernism
was created to break conventions.
-
Photography
exists as its own art form rather than trying to copy paintings.
-
The
steerage is an example of platonic forms in use.
-
Steiglitz
rejected manipulation as it made his images closer to Plato’s ideal form?
-
Photography
has its own possibility’s of expression as opposed to photography.
-
In
opposition to Steiglitz, Hine photographed with sociological factors in mind.
