Barnes Foundation Gallery - From Today, Painting Is Dead: Early Photography in Britain and France
Peter Henry Emerson’s ‘Gathering Water Lilies’ (1885) PHOTO: COLLECTION OF MICHAEL MATTIS AND JUDY HOCHBERG
The Barnes Foundation Gallery in Philadelphia is presently featuring a collection of some of the earliest photographic works known to man.
From the Gallery:
On first seeing a photograph around 1840, the influential French painter Paul Delaroche proclaimed, “From today, painting is dead!” The story sounds far-fetched, but it captures the anxieties that surrounded the technology when it first emerged in the mid-19th century.
Julia Margaret Cameron’s ‘King David and Bathsheba (Henry Taylor and Mary Hillier)’ (1869) PHOTO: COLLECTION OF MICHAEL MATTIS AND JUDY HOCHBERG.
At the time of photography’s invention, painting was (and had long been) the primary medium for recording images. The art establishment had rigid guidelines for style and an official hierarchy of subject matter: First came history paintings, which sought to impart moral messages. Portraiture was next. Then came scenes of daily life, or genre paintings. Landscape and still life ranked lower still.
Roger Fenton. The Valley of the Shadow of Death (detail), 1855. Salt print from collodion-on-glass negative. Collection of Michael Mattis and Judy Hochberg
The nearly 250 iconic pictures in this exhibition are organized by these official categories, illuminating the possibilities and challenges that amateur and professional photographers faced while experimenting with their new medium. In each section, you’ll see how early photographers both embraced and questioned the conventions of the dominant tradition; how technical limitations hindered their attempts to imitate painting; and how, in the process, they invented new ways of seeing the world, setting the stage for our modern visual culture.
Peter Henry Emerson. Poling the Marsh Hay, c. 1886. Platinum print. Collection of Michael Mattis and Judy Hochberg
From the 17th century until the end of the 19th century, the fine arts academies of Paris and London considered history painting to be the supreme visual art. Large-scale, theatrical pictures illustrating stories from history, mythology, or the Bible sought to enlighten the populace.
Technical limitations prevented early photographers from taking pictures of this kind. (Long exposure times, for example, made it impossible to capture complicated multi-figure scenes.) But as cameras became faster and easier to carry, photographers realized they could narrate important events as they happened. Increasingly, in the 1870s and 1880s, photographs accompanied news stories in the press.
Gustave Le Gray’s ‘The Great Wave, Sète’ (1857) PHOTO: COLLECTION OF MICHAEL MATTIS AND JUDY HOCHBERG.
By the end of the 18th century, Enlightenment thought (which centered on reason and intellect) had increased the popularity of portrait painting. Successful artists sought to convey a sitter’s personality, or inner life, in addition to capturing physical likeness.
Early photography struggled with such nuance. The daguerreotype, the first popular photographic portrait medium, required an exposure time of several minutes to produce a detailed picture. Sitters had to remain perfectly still, in bright light, for extended periods of time. They often appeared rigid and expressionless in the resulting images.
Nonetheless, for a growing middle class who could not afford painted portraits, photographic likenesses were in great demand. Though they had only entered the market in 1839, daguerreotype studios in Paris were producing more than 100,000 portraits a year by the early 1850s.
Marie-Alexandre Alophe. Untitled, c. 1859. Albumen print from collodion-on-glass negative. Collection of Michael Mattis and Judy Hochberg
I would love to see this exhibit firsthand.
At Eternity's Gate
Because of its direct relation to the world of art, I thought I would quickly note that I recently had the fortunate opportunity to see this film. While the “shaky camera” viewpoint does at times become a bit monotonous, I believe the overall work is a great success. Willem Dafoe, who has been nominated for an Academy Award for his betrayal of Vincent van Gogh, is captivating as ever.
You can view the trailer here.
In the film, Paul Gauguin, who was not only a fellow artist but close friend to van Gogh, said that van Gogh’s work was more sculpture than painting. Indeed, and what the world gained because it was so.
Happy New Year!
Wishing everyone a safe, healthy, and prosperous New Year!
A New Look On A Veritable Master
Ansel Adams’s ‘Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park’ (about 1937) PHOTO: © THE ANSEL ADAMS PUBLISHING RIGHTS TRUST/MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON
Ansel Adams has often been looked upon as the master of black-and-white landscape photography. Yet this longstanding status as guru of the craft has not been without its manifold critics.
This Wall Street Journal article highlights a new exhibition “Ansel Adams in Our Time” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which seeks to bring new understanding to the old virtuoso (1902-1984), especially in comparing and contrasting more modern artists.
I’d love to peruse this exhibit.
Virtual Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Abstraction White Rose | 1927
Google’s Arts & Culture site has done a marvelous job highlighting some of the works of one of my favorite artists, the legendary Georgia O’Keeffe.
Additional O’Keeffe works will be added in the future, of course, but what Google has masterfully digitized thus far represents are real treasure.
The Lego Hasselblad
I have never played with Lego toys, but the following caught my eye (obviously).
Taiwan-based photographer, designer, and LEGO builder Helen Sham has created an incredibly realistic Hasselblad 503CX medium format film camera using LEGO blocks.
“I Lego-designed this camera because I am also a photographer and this camera has been one of my favorites,” Sham writes. “I love the manual mechanisms of this particular camera very much.”
If you were (or are) a Lego fan or a photographer, check out the video at the bottom of the page as well.
Tornado Timelapse
Brief but beautiful "landscape" timelapse video of a tornado. Be sure to view in 4K mode if your video hardware supports it.
Inspiring
Remarkable.
It makes me wonder: with respect to the arts (not to mention other facets of life), what will technology allow people to do in the future...?
Diving Into Monet’s World
Water Lilies, Claude Monet, 1916
This Google site is amazing.
Even though Monet’s master creations are not in the realm of photography, of course, his impact upon many other forms of art is undeniable. As a photographer, I have been inspired on numerous occasions by his work and I know countless artists, no matter what their medium, could say the same.