PICTORIALISM

Now I would like to discover an early photography movement which I came across during my research regarding aspects of Fine Art Photography.

Pictorialism:

This movement took place in the second half of the nineteenth century when photography became first popular. According to Leggat (1999) pictorialism meant focusing more on the finished picture than the subject itself. The key aspect was putting the attention on the created atmosphere or the point of view. Those photographers were trying to achieve a more artistic approach of the image taking. They were more interested in the aesthetics of the photograph and the emotional impact it would have on the viewer.

By the end of the nineteenth century, after the people got used to this new technical device, some of them started questionning the camera. They regarded it as too accurate and too detailed in its recordings. So they tried to reduce the signs of the technological process within the photographs which were often out of focus on purpose (Wells, 1997). This lead to the fact that photographers began to experiment with the camera and developed new techniques which brought the photographs closer to an art form which was called High-Art photography.

At this period photographers were also strongly influenced by current art movements, i.e. by the impressionism. Their works showed particular features similar to paintings.



New techniques (Leggat 1999):

• the use of focus
• manipulations of the negative or
  
• developping techniques such as 'gum bichromate', which diminished the sharpness of details and created a more artistic picture
  

Most famous photographers of the pictorialism era were:



Oscar Rejlander (Sweden, 1813 - London 1875)


http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1432/1184969319_31bb656e0f.jpg



http://www.geh.org/fm/rejlander/m197202490027.jpg



http://www.geh.org/fm/rejlander/m198400810001.jpg


Henry Peach Robinson (1830 - 1901)


http://www.kiberpipa.org/gallery/album82/Henry_Peach_Robinson_Fading_Away_1858.jpg




http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_P/0_photographers_robinson_when_the_days_work_is_done.jpg



http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_p/0_photographs_in_exhibitions_robinson_-_somebody_coming.jpg


Photographers were often criticised in this period, however, they believed that photography was more than a 'mechanical form of imagemaking' (Wells 1997).
There have also been fights between painters and photographers because of the big competition amongst them. Photographers were making simple photographic portraits of people in the streets, who were not able to afford to pay for a painted one.
The advantages of photography were obvious. If somebody wanted a painted portrait, he would have to trust the uncertain skills of the painter. Photography on the contrary was quicker in execution and more accurate in details than a painting might have been (Wells 1997).
On the other hand, there also have been some photographers who were celebrating the features and qualities of the mechanical photography. The visual world could be recorded more accurately than ever.

Sources:

Leggat, R 1999, Pictorialism, viewed 22. May 2010, http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/. => Significant Processes => Pictorialism.

Wells, L 1997, Photography: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, London/ New York, pp. 21.