THE PORTRAIT

-RICHARD AVEDON
Self-Portrait 1964


  In chapter 6 of 'The Photograph' Graham Clarke writes about how Richard Avedon remodelled his work from traditionally being directed towards 'formal' portraiture and fashion work to styling his imagery more about challenging ideas of how individuals can be photographed. Avedon's portrait series which documented characters from the Western USA are taken against a high-key style white background. Clarke suggests this "gives off an atmosphere of loss and displacement", but then questions whether this was Avedon's original intent. Still preserving it's obsessive ambiguity, his work suggests the fading stage of the formal portrait. His 1964 self-portrait presents himself in a photo-booth displaying half of his face through a mask of James Baldwin, the black American writer. His reasoning behind this, and the contributing factors are deep and intense. However, the visual of the image portrays a insight into the actual overall aspect of the portrait in relation to photography. 


  The viewer is now not currently looking into the subject within the image but now the processes that are suggested in creating the image and as Clarke says, the "ever-changing condition" and how the photographer works this out. This photograph becomes significant in that it enquires its confinements of reference; it could be said that the photographic portrait redefines portraiture for itself rather than to that of the painted portrait, boldly relating itself to the 20th century, whilst still choosing to use its incongruity as a decision of representation.

THE NUDE

ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE 

-PATTI SMITH 1976

 To me this photograph defines a alternative look at nude photography, as it is visually much different from famous nude imagery in photography. Most past images seemed to glorify the body, with full frontal compositions that are exposing the form fully to the viewer, an example of this could be Edward Weston's image of Tina Modotti from 1923:

EDWARD WESTON

-TINA MODOTTI 1923

  I feel this type of classic nude expresses more about the artist than the subject within the image, showing how they feel the body is a thing of beauty with the subtle black and white tones and the smooth lines of the female form running through the composition, choosing not to have the model make eye contact with the viewer as they feel the main focus should be seen as the figure.

 However, Mapplethorpe's image of Patti Smith chooses to reject a style that has been seen in many classic images from the past and instead portray the nude in a different style, a style in which I feel is chosen to speak about the subject and photographer as equal.

“Sexuality is not so much a given as a construction in which are reflected other values and relationships; especially in terms of sexual difference, the image of women, and homosexuality”

-Graham Clarke

  I feel that Mapplethorpe's image speaks of his own sexual experimentation and also confusion, shown through the way the subject in his image chooses to hide herself and display very little, a metaphor for the feelings he has of choosing to conceal his sexuality, but also to show the feelings of Patti Smith as she is photographed, how she maybe feels uncomfortable in herself to display herself fully to the camera, so instead decides to awkwardly sit in a small space of a large location, only a small figure in the entire environment trying to cover up what she doesn't want to make public. So rather than objectifying the body, this image to me expresses the personal view of displaying the nude form from both photographer and subject and how we read body language as a nude as well as being given visual metaphor about sexuality.

SURREALISM

 

BRASSAI

-INVOLUNTARY SCULPTURE 1933  

  The 1930's saw a new Paris based art movement that would be known by the term 'Surrealism'. The work conveys ideas inspired by the interest in the irrational, the truth above realism, and the revolutionary ideas that neurologist Sigmund Freud proposed, ideas about unlocking the power of the unconscious mind through dreams.

  One key figure of the movement could be 'Brassai', who's 1933 series 'Involuntary Sculpture' (pictured above) displays strong surrealist influence, portraying everyday objects in an unusual light, leading the viewers to question the purpose and original intent of these newly abstract items. A rather different but equally as significant artist who used Surrealist ideas by the name of Hans Bellmer produced a set of images titled 'Doll' in 1935. These images showed grotesque looking medical dolls shown in unusual and abstract poses, and it has been suggested that this particular look was Bellmer's response to the fair haired stereotype of the Nazi orientated 'aryan' body, an idea which he will have produced from growing up in a German dominated area of Poland in 1902.

HANS BELLMER

-THE DOLL 1936

  Visual motifs of Surrealism could include reoccurring images of clocks, like in the artwork of Salvador Dali where he uses the idea to convey ideas about Einstein's  theories about time being relative rather than fixed. Draws and cupboards are also a running theme through some surrealist photography and artwork, suggesting the secrets that can be hidden away or unknown to the viewer apart from when used as a metaphor visually to convey the idea about being able to discover further information the subject doesn't want to be shown in the open. This can be seen in such works as Claude Cahun's 'The Closet' in which she portrays the hidden sexual orientations that are only made public when the subject chooses them to be.

CLAUDE CAHUN

-THE CLOSET 1932

  In 1924 André Breton published 'The Surrealist Manifesto' in which he attempted to give a detailed analysis of Surrealism and explain its influences such as the Dada movement. The manifesto defines surrealism as
"Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express -- verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner -- the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern."

PICTORIALISM

ROBERT DEMACHY

-FEMALE NUDE CA. 1900-1910

Instantly to me this image appears to be a painting, resembling classic female nude portraiture, this is one of the first obvious elements of Pictorialism within Demachy's work. I feel that due to the unexplored territory of the photographic portrait people like Demachy would use their cameras to shoot as if they were creating painted artwork, and the composition and poses of the models would reflect this. I feel that this is also evident with how it seems the picture would have been printed onto textured paper rather than modern prints of high quality, again, to replicate the classic style of canvas painting; this may come across to some viewers as being very rough, although personally I love the grain and vague detail. Most Pictorialist imagery would have been traditionally tended to a lot by hand, for example, dodging and burning done to prints, and I feel this images roughness conveys this sense of extra work added by the photographer post-production.

CONSTRUCTIVISM

ALEXANDER RODCHENKO
-UNTITLED 1928


  This image shows a male figure walking taken from a 'birds-eye' view. It is a landscape image with the subject appearing in the right hand side of the frame, the rest of the image space taken up by abstract shadow, which i feel the black and white format of the image enhances. The composition exposes a view not normally seen by human eye and displays the shape of the legs which seem very unusual, even though we see people walk all the time.
  This view is only possible through the new lighter hand-held cameras that had just been developed and signals how Rodchenko utilised this to its full extent in his images creating shapes and abstract imagery out of what would normally not b an unusual subject. All of these techniques are very typical of Constructivist imagery and of Rodchenko's style of working, and it greatly enhances the fact that he was a defining photographer in the Constructivist field.

MODERNISM

PAUL STRAND

-BOWLS 1917

I feel this image instantly conveys a sense of modernism with the subject, a simple compilation of kitchen bowls stripped down visually to expose the shape and form of what would usually be a bland uninteresting set of objects. Composition-wise it crops out edges and large portions of the subject, I feel this further emphasizes how the photographer wishes them to be viewed, as forms of shape and tone. The fact these objects are viewed as abstract shapes and shadow further are key signs of modernist work, and if the title of the image wasn't a signifier of what the photograph actually shows I feel the viewer would be left without any strong indication of what the picture actually features.
 Personally I enjoy how the line and curves of the image trail the eye up and down like a form of ladder, guiding the viewer around each section of the image and leading us into different areas of tone and shadow. The only space which I feel doesn't fit in with the rest of the photograph is the bottom right corner, which shows streaks of light and darkness in a more closer fashion than in the rest of the composition, although I do feel this works to the pictures advantage, displaying something slightly different to break the repetitive pattern of shape and form.