I am reading Cotton's book as I work through the first few exercises in the Art of Photography paper. I have read the introduction and the first chapter so far. I am a complete novice in regards to any written commentary regarding the Arts, so it is quite interesting for me to read about how Cotton approaches the subject of photography as contemporary art. She categorises the various styles and approaches taken by photographers. To begin with, I am quite bewildered that the "photograph" has only recently (in comparison to the painting) been credited as an art form. Cotton gives an overview of the common ground and motivations that photographers share - and identifies 8 themes or styles which she basis her chapters on.
The first chapter "If This Is Art" challenges a common held perception of the photographer as someone "scavenging daily life looking for the moment when a picture of great visual intrigue appears in the photographic frame"(1) . This descriptive comment, really got me hooked (to date, this has been me, wandering around with my camera waiting for something to happen.. I found this comment quite amusing) I wanted to read more. The chapter explained how, at the outset, the photographs taken were always destined to be the final outcome.. rather than a record, as Cotton states, of temporary artistic acts. (I like the way Cotton writes!) The point is, the photographers had a preconceived plan or strategy and had manufactured the "performance" of exactly what they wanted to shoot, ie, nothing was random. I was reminded of some of the photographs I have recently viewed on Sharon Boothroyds blog "Photoparley", in particular I liked the work of Aglae Bory from the series "Correlations": http://Photoparley.wordpress.com (accessed 4/7/12) - Aglae has staged a photograph of herself and daughter, waking up from sleep: as Boothroyd states, nothing has been left to chance, Aglae has decided what clothes she and her child wear, the exact physical positions have been thought out, and even the release cable is part of the staged scene. The simple domesticity is haunting for me, and I can feel the tender moment shared by mother and daughter. (as a mum, this image speaks volumes to me).
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see Correlations (as mentioned above)
I adore the work of William Eggleston and Stephen Shore - I love the bold use of everyday objects as a statement of art. Eggleston was at the forefront of using colour in his photography - (late 1960s) and in 1976 he had the first solo exhibition using colour, at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York.
I really liked the images by Gillian Wearing and Bettina von Zwehl - who both exhibit photographs which have been staged to achieve the end result. I thought it was interesting, as Wearing states (at p 30 )".. giving the control of self-determination to the subject challenges the notion of traditional documentary portraiture...the capturing of the profundity and experience of everyday life is not intrinsic to the traditional styles or compositions of the documentary photograph, but is more effectively reached through artistic intervention and strategy."
In the second chapter Once Upon a Time Cotton discusses the genre known as tableau photography (tableau-Mort or tableau-Vivant) where the undercurrent theme is the narrative story telling quality of each image. Cotton makes reference to two groups of tableau narrative(3): Firstly, images whose narrative allude to fairy tales, or well known stories that we have grown up with in our consciousness (for example the Wizard of OZ, Goldilocks and the three bears or Shakespeare's Ophelia) though loaded with a hidden sinister quality or moral ambiguity about them. Secondly, there are those whose themes are not so obvious but require the viewer to investigate the image, and layer it with their own interpretation or narrative.
Jeff Wall has been one of the leading artists in this genre since the 1980's. He divides his work into two broad areas:
(i) the ornate style (reminiscent of the compositional devices of Renaissance painting directing us through the image- eg, Insomnia, The Destroyed Room (1978)(influenced by the Punk era - (Tracey Emin's "My Bed" springs to mind too) and;
(ii) the staging of an event, such as Passerby - Wall constructed a street scene at night with two men passing by each other and one giving a backwards glance. To the viewer, the scene appears as a spontaneous event, the narrative underpinning Passerby however, is a comment on urban living and the apparent hidden dangers as depicted by the shadows disappearing into the dark, sinister night. "A View from an Apartment" (2004-2005) records the day to day life and routines of domesticity between two women living in an apartment. Again, this gives the impression of an accidental viewing, but Wall actually took over a year to set this up. He bought the apartment and allowed one of the woman to furnish it. He then, videoed the daily routines of the inhabitants and recorded their patterns of movement. The final image, is a combination of staged, fictional, tableau and factual.
I am intrigued by Wall and could devote pages to his work alone. I accessed some reading on line through MOMA see: http://www.moma.org./interactives/exhibitions/2007/jeffwall (accessed 28/7/12) Wall, Jeff (2007) Jeff Wall: Selected Essays and Interviews. New York: Museum of Modern Art.
After reading chapter 2, I am conscious that the most dominant theme for tableau is the intense narrative featuring the uncanny, socially subverse or apocryphal events - all along dressed up as rich aesthetic images. As Cotton states, the viewer realises, almost too late the true meaning of what we have enjoyed (4). Those artists that spring to mind, and had a lasting impact for me, are Deborah Mesa-Pelly (with Legs (1999)), Anna Gaskell (By Proxy) and Inez van Lamsweede and Vinoodh Matadin - The Widow (Black) 1997 and Izima Kaoru (Aure Wears Paul & Joe, 2001). Reviewing this chapter has inspired me to venture into my own tableau narrative. Referring to Boothroyd again, the photograph of her daughter on the edge of a pool, invokes a sinister connotations, see http://www.sharonboothroyd.com/index.php?/edelweiss/ (accessed 29/7/12). As a viewer, you immediately think of the danger that pool presents to the (I am assuming and this my own narrative) unsupervised innocent child. I find this quite chilling. I hope to do more reading in the future on the some of the artists mentioned in this chapter.
footnotes:
(1), (2), (3), (4) Cotton, Charlotte, (2009), the photograph as contemporary art, (2nd revised ed) Thames and Hudson, pp , 8, 30,31,50 - 51, (4)65
(3)Cotton (supra pp50,51)
(4) Cotton (supra p65)
Chapter 3: Deadpan genre
It has actually been a while since I read chapter 3 which concerns the Deadpan style. Photographers almost stand back from their images i.e., there is no narrative or guiding intention or emotion which we can glean from the photographer to direct the viewer. Cotton states that Deadpan is one of the fastest growing styles of photography, it emerged as a style in the early 1990's (although there were earlier examples, consider Ed Burtynsky's - Oil fields in California). The almost clinical style of Deadpan was seen as a refreshing contrast to the images of the 1980's with their renaissance art like qualities. With Deadpan the point of the photograph is the subject itself. There is no hidden psychology, no story telling and no visual drama.
One feature that is common with this style of photography, is that many images are presented as large installations - huge images which maximise their visual impact. Gursky is a master of this genre, his photograph of Chicagos Board of Trade II, 1999, is 2 x 5 metres. As Cotton mentions, many of the images are about the modern day commodification and invasion of nature by man.
Chapter 4: Something and Nothing
This is a short chapter, and Cotton reflects on how contemporary photographers have pushed the boundaries about what might be considered a credible visual subject. For example, an ordinary subject such as a can opener, is transposed into an art form because of its treatment. What would otherwise be considered ordinary is given visual impact and credibility by the way it is photographed.
The fundmental point is that the photographer fosters our visual curiosity by encouraging us to contemplate ordinary objects of our daily lives in new ways. Cotton states that it is the fact the object has been photographed that designates the ordinary object as significant - thereby suggesting that we view the subject in a new way.
Chapter 3: Deadpan genre
It has actually been a while since I read chapter 3 which concerns the Deadpan style. Photographers almost stand back from their images i.e., there is no narrative or guiding intention or emotion which we can glean from the photographer to direct the viewer. Cotton states that Deadpan is one of the fastest growing styles of photography, it emerged as a style in the early 1990's (although there were earlier examples, consider Ed Burtynsky's - Oil fields in California). The almost clinical style of Deadpan was seen as a refreshing contrast to the images of the 1980's with their renaissance art like qualities. With Deadpan the point of the photograph is the subject itself. There is no hidden psychology, no story telling and no visual drama.
One feature that is common with this style of photography, is that many images are presented as large installations - huge images which maximise their visual impact. Gursky is a master of this genre, his photograph of Chicagos Board of Trade II, 1999, is 2 x 5 metres. As Cotton mentions, many of the images are about the modern day commodification and invasion of nature by man.
Chapter 4: Something and Nothing
This is a short chapter, and Cotton reflects on how contemporary photographers have pushed the boundaries about what might be considered a credible visual subject. For example, an ordinary subject such as a can opener, is transposed into an art form because of its treatment. What would otherwise be considered ordinary is given visual impact and credibility by the way it is photographed.
The fundmental point is that the photographer fosters our visual curiosity by encouraging us to contemplate ordinary objects of our daily lives in new ways. Cotton states that it is the fact the object has been photographed that designates the ordinary object as significant - thereby suggesting that we view the subject in a new way.
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