Man Ray’s Violin D’Ingres is a perfect example of a modernist photograph. Man Ray pushes both how photography is perceived and what is possible within a photograph in this example. Man Ray himself was an American, born as Emmanuel Rudnitsky, but moved to Paris and engaged in very non-American photography. Europe lacked the American ideals about what “strait photography” should be. While American schools of photography believed that an art photograph should only be made with a large negative with maximum depth of field, Europeans were busy experimenting with new uses of the medium as well as experimenting with altering the image in serious ways to change the meaning.
Man Ray was born the son of Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia. He moved to Brooklyn where he was able to learn a broad scope of the arts and have access to all of New York’s resources. There he met Steiglitz and became interested in the 291-gallery crowd, but it was when he became acquainted with New York City’s Dadaists that exploration of his self such as this became possible.
The time this photograph was taken explains much about why it was taken. The period between the world wars was arguably the most prolific period in photography’s history in terms of quantity produced and variety. Modernism in Europe was busy tackling new subject matter and expressing itself in every way possible. Images were manipulated in ways foretelling of much of photography’s future, including what is so possible digitally. However, the most important thing is perhaps that this movement was embodied by the belief that expressing yourself in anyway is possible. In other photography movements previously, large groups of people tended to represent similar ideas.
Technically, Man Ray has been known to take use of many formats available to him. He practiced a form of art similar to Photogenic Drawings as well as collage and montage. Determining the technique used in construction of this photograph is difficult, the book makes no mention of it and the photograph is reproduced most likely scaled. It looks as if the negative could have been medium format roll film or large format with the violin’s f-holes burnt into the final image by placing a large sheet of opaque material over the image with the f-holes cut out.
Man Ray’s intentions are not altogether clear in the photograph as it operates on so many levels. Unless that was his main intent, he points out the irony of the shape of the women’s body in comparison to a violin.
In society we are surrounded by images, immersed in a visual world with symbols and meaning created through traditional literary devices, but augmented with the influence of graphics, words, positioning and colour. The images of Peter Goldsworthy’s novel, Maestro (1989) move within these diameters and in many ways the visions of Ivan Sen’s film Beneath Clouds (2002) linger in the same way. Both these texts explore themes of appearance versus reality and influence of setting, by evoking emotion in the responder through their distinctively visual elements.
Curtis’s work represents the ideological construction of foreign cultures in the 'way of seeing' that is suitable for the audience of the photograph and the photographer. This illustrates the highly political motives of photograph, carrying multiple meanings in order to craft certain imaginations of the subject (Berger, 1972). As a result of the power that the photographer has on its subjects, certain messages and ‘way of seeing’ are depicted through photographs. For instance, expected gender roles are played out in photographs of the Indian subjects, portraying the expectation of Curtis and his audience of the masculine and feminine behaviour by the subjects conforming to such gender standards (Jackson, 1992). Indian men are captured in what Jackson (1992) describes as ‘active poses’, such as fishing or dancing, juxtaposed with the ‘passive poses’ of female subjects, photographed in more decorative postured of waiting and watching. Though it can be argued that the manipulation and selection of images by Curtis as an artist’s ‘creative manipulation’ of their work, Curtis’ photography was used as a scientific measure, and hence should be devoid of such influences (Jackson,
Sam Gilliam is was born in Tupelo, Mississippi on November 30, 1933. He served in the United States Army for two years. He received his education from University of Louisville and is a world renowned color artist. Morris Louis and Ken Noland’s works of art had a huge impact on Sam Gilliam and his works. Gilliam taught in Louisville publics schools and many art colleges. He is known for his colorful and unique art. He was one of the first artists to not frame his art work instead he would just paint on a bare canvas or drapes. His art style is very modern and loud. When someone looks at his works of art they have instant imagination and questions. Gilliam leaves his works of art up for interpretation, there is no solid meaning to them. Anyone can make see whatever they want, his art allows for freedom and Ray II is no different.
I think the reason so many people wanted to own this image is due to the fact that it is a mix of nature and the beauty that we would all like to remember each and every day. Living the fast-paced lives of work and family, humans do not get to experience this beauty of nature often enough. Peter Lik uses contextual art in most of his photographs in order to capture the natural Earth that most people are not lucky enough to see in person.
The heightened sensitivity of the picture plane may no longer permit sculptural illusion, but does and must permit optical illusion.” Greenbergian theory is identifying with the past arts, that they do have a connection to the modernists by showing us that although the picture plane is no longer showing sculptural illusion but it is using illusion in ways that the old masters did not, that being in an optical way, the way in which we look at the painting is ultimately a distorted view of what we see. That not only do Modernists offer a speculative mode of painting but relatively that it alters all of the theoretical potentials into experimental ones and in undertaking this tests unconsciously all theories of art for their importance to the actual applied understanding of art, and without the old masters paintings the Modernists would never had been able to test art in the way that they did, to push the theories of art to their limits. "The surrounding shape of the picture was a restraining form, or standard that was shared with the art of the theatre; colour was a norm and a means shared not only with the theatre, but also with sculpture.” Here is shown how the actual form of the painting was a restraint but the Modernists embraced the forms of the shape and included it into their
The essay How You See Yourself by Nicholas Mirzoeff discusses the evolution of art. The author discusses the use of art to represent changing identities over the years including cultural practices and societal expectations. The selfie, according to Nicholas Mirzoeff’s essay, is the equivalent of a self-portrait in the previous centuries preceding the technological development required for the present day selfie. The essay explores the different periods and the significance of art, particularly self-portraits, the selfies of the time, and their development over time. The author focuses on different themes including heroism, gender definition, and the focus of an image. Mirzoeff effectively provides examples illustrating and reinforcing the themes he highlights in his essay.
...f the pristine photographic print and polished sculptural surface. The photographs are in color but with this sort of visual trickery Muniz subverts photography by employing it to reveal its own unreliability. Coplans with his black and white self-portraits of his aging hands man is mere representation of the celebration of his present in anticipation of his future.
From the creation of art to its modern understanding, artists have strived to perform and perfect a photo realistic painting with the use of complex lines, blend of colors, and captivating subjects. This is not the case anymore due to the invention of the camera in 1827, since it will always be the ultimate form of realism. Due to this, artists had the opportunities to branch away from the classical formation of realism, and venture into new forms such as what is known today as modern art. In the examination of two well known artists, Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock, we can see that the artist doesn’t only intend for the painting to be just a painting, but more of a form of telling a scene through challenging thoughts, and expressing of the artists emotion in their creation.
Georges Braque’s Violin and Palette is a work of analytic cubism, the second period in the development of cubism. This form of cubism uses rudimentary shapes and overlapping planes to deconstruct and then reconstruct objects within a painting. It is a more structured and monochromatic approach in comparison to other cubist stages. Along with other cubist artists, Braque abandons vivid fauvist palettes and traditional academic perspective to achieve this. As Braque himself noted, “When fragmented objects appeared in 1909, it was a way for me to get as close as possible to the object as painting allowed.”
Ivan Le Lorraine Albright was born in Chicago in 1897; he was the son of a painter that had previously studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Albright’s father trained him form an early age to draw in the academic tradition, studying models and plaster casts. This along with his later enrollment in art schools provided Albright with the foundation for his finely crafted paintings.
The first of these literal works were Stella’s now-famous “black paintings” done in 1959. By using elements of pattern and repetition while denying any sense of painterly touch, Stella forced the viewer
Photojournalism plays a critical role in the way we capture and understand the reality of a particular moment in time. As a way of documenting history, the ability to create meaning through images contributes to a transparent media through exacting the truth of a moment. By capturing the surreal world and presenting it in a narrative that is relatable to its audience, allows the image to create a fair and accurate representation of reality.
Women desire to become beautiful and powerful, even if they don’t say it in words. And the Photographer plays with that concept and creates that desire, that you can become that person you see in the photograph. And live that lifestyle. Photographers use techniques from the cinema/cinematic, to create the desire of viewers/Buyer/Consumers. The cinematic techniques made it possible the way people lived and the...
The battle between whether photography was or wasn’t art was difficult at the time of its surface.
Many believed that Modernist works were not “art” because they did not always look like real life. But what is “real life”? A new outlook on reality was taken by Modernists. What is true for one person at one time is not true for another person at a different time. Experimentation with perspective and truth was not confined to the canvas; it influenced literary circles as well.