The Photo History Review: Modernism: European avant-garde and American Straight Photography

Modernism in Photography (approximately 1945-1970):

American modernism, as opposed to European avant-garde modernism, is usually attributed to photographers, such as Alfred Steiglitz and Paul Strand, who “used the realism of the medium to create beauty from everyday life, and to make statements about the nature of photography, rather than about the world. Their work often abstracted reality by eliminating social and spatial context; by using viewpoints that flattened pictorial space, acknowledging the flatness of he picture plane; and by emphasizing shape and tonal rendition in the highlights and shadows as much as the actual subject matter". (Oxford Companion to the Photograph)

"Photography became art by transcending its reality bearing function through the subjectivity that photographers, as authors of their images, managed to instill in their pictures”. Modernism, which was championed by art critic Clement Greenberg and MoMA Curator Belmont Newhall “emphasized formal and aesthetic qualities that defined “masters” and “canonical” images that transcended their historical and social context”. (Oxford Companion to the Photograph)

In Europe something different was happening. Modern artists, such as the Surrealists, Constructivists, and Bauhaus artists, "sought to break-down the traditional definitions of art, and the barriers between art and design, often with the utopian aim to merge art with everyday life." (Oxford Companion to the Photograph) The European avant-garde embraced technology, developed mixed media practices, and often championed art that explored social and political concerns.

When we speak of modernism, however, typically we are referring to American ideas of form, space, and the medium. "In the post 1945 period, American Modernism became dominant in the West, emphasizing specialization and purity, and downplaying the political engagement of earlier avant-garde groups: to be modern, each discipline had to refine the definition of its own competencies." (Oxford Companion to the Photograph)

Below you will find an outline of various modern photographic practices, as well as links to more information on each modern genres. In class this semester we looked at three different types of European Modernism: the Bauhaus artist from Germany, the Surrealists from Paris, and the Constructivists from Russia.

The Bauhaus

The Bauhaus was an art school founded by architect Walter Gropious in Germany in 1919. Gropious sought to break down the barriers between art and design. All Bauhaus students participated in an intensive foundation study, which emphasized design and craftsmanship. Once foundation studies were complete, students could specialize in a particular discipline. Lazlo Maholy Nagy taught photography at the Bauhaus. Moholy-Nagy embraced technology and the camera and encouraged his students to find new ways to perceiving the world. He also used the Photogram to teach basic principles of design, such as form, layout and balance. Moholy Nagy coined te term "New Vision" to explain his artistic teachings and practices.

See link below:
Photography and the Bauhaus

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Untitled, 1925

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Boats, Port of Marseilles , 1929

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Hand Photogram, 1925

Surrealism

• Surrealism originated in the late 1910s and early '20s as a literary movement that experimented with a new mode of expression called automatic writing, or automatism, which sought to release the unbridled imagination of the subconscious.

• It was officially announced in Paris in 1924 with the publication of the Manifesto of Surrealism by the poet and critic André Breton (1896–1966); soon after, Surrealism quickly became an international intellectual and political movement.

• Breton, a trained psychiatrist was influenced by the psychological theories and dream studies of Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and the political ideas of Karl Marx (1818–1883). Using Freudian methods of free association, their poetry and prose drew upon the private world of the mind, traditionally restricted by reason and societal limitations, to produce surprising, unexpected imagery.

• The major surrealist Photographers were Man Ray and Andre Kertesz

Andre Kertesz, Distortion, 1933

Man Ray, Untitled, Rayograph, 1922

Man Ray, Glass Tears, 1930

Man Ray experimented with alternative processes, such as solarization, split negatives, and Rayograms, his unique photogram process. He wanted to make psychological works of art that tapped into the unconscious.

See Link Below
Photography and Surrealism

Russian Constructivism

• Constructivism was spearheaded by graphic artists, Alexander Rodchenko and El Lissitzky

• The Constructivists, as they were called, believed that it was photography’s mission, in conjunction with the graphic arts, to supplant painting as socialism’s leading representational medium.

• The Constuctivists rejected Pictorialism, as practiced by Rejlander and Robinson; they claimed that Pictorialism was elitist and individualistic. Instead, they embraced aspects of Lazlo Moholy Nagy's “New Vision.”

• Constructivist's subject matter became machines, mass produced objects, and industrial development becuase these things clearly represented a future-minded, contemporary, society.

Alexander Rodchenko, Chauffeur 1929

Modern Photography In The U.S.A

Photographic Modernism in the United States is associated with Alfred Steiglitz and the 291 Gallery on the East Coast and Edward Weston and the F 64 Group on the West Coast. Initially, Steiglitz first exhibited European modern paintings at his 291 gallery. In fact, Picasso, Cezanne, and Degas were among the European artist to exhibit at 291. Modern photography, like Eropean modern painting, privileged form over subject-matter and attempted to flatten space into single planes of color and shade. By the 1910s Steiglitz hailed a young photographer by the name of Paul Strand as the new modern master. Strand's photographs successfully flattened space and abstracted the the world in front of the camera lens. Years later, however, Paul Strand left the United States for Mexico. In Mexico, he abandoned traditional modernism and made a series of documentary films that explored a diverse group of subjects.

In the early part of the 1900s, leading West Coast photographers. such as Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston, and Ansel Adams, formed a photography group, known as F 64. F 64 Group named themeslves after the smallest aperture setting because (as you know) the smallest aperture ensures the most depth of field and clearest images, The F-64 Group rejected Pictorialism, which was still the leading trend in art photography at the time, and sought to make the West Coast, as opposed to New York, the hub of photography.

Alfred Steiglitz, The Steerage, 1907

The Steerage is one Steiglitz's most famous works. It is celebrated for its modern sense of space and design. This photograph also represents a transition in Steiglitz's own photographic practice. Initially, Steiglitz gained recognition as a popular Pictorialist photographer who made romantic, soft focus images, but the Streerage showcases attributes of straight photography or modernism, a crisp in-focus image, thoughtful design, and an elimination of spatial context.