Analysis of:
American Legion Convention-Dallas: Street photography by Garry Winogrand
Skip, Philadelphia: A photograph by George Krause
Art is such an eternal concept and part of our lives. It lives on through generations, transcending many periods, and can speak through many mediums. Art is a way of expression, when nothing else can capture, but is something that can be interpreted in many ways. I chose photography—that which best portrays mankind, in that it hides nothing and only shows what is there to begin with. “It is the language most readily understandable to all and our most important form of communication among nations and cultures.”(Schuneman; Koner 59-60) Two excellent representations of this is a street photographic piece by Garry Winogrand called American Legion Convention- Dallas, Texas 1964 and a piece by George Krause called Skip, Philadelphia 1962.
Innate Reactions: What Would You Really Do?
Garry Winogrand (1928-1984) was best noted for his street photography and portrayal of early 1960 America. “Winogrand was never looking for a ‘pretty shot’”, he was more interested in unveiling the social issues of society and “the role of media in shaping attitudes.”(wikipedia.org) “In many ways these works are social satires of American life.”(artmag.com) This interest is apparent in his piece called American Legion Convention of which I experienced in person at the Lowe Art Museum. The photo is a black and white, with the clear focus on an older white male in the center. He is without legs, and is sitting on a busy sidewalk, with an almost invisible barrier surrounding him from everyone else. I sense a very discernable attitude of “I’m just going about my business.” This particular photogr...
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...d something new.”(Schuneman; Koner p. 59) When totaling all of these factors, yes, photography is art. This is what is so impressive about the concept of art—two totally different mediums such as an oil painting and a black and white photograph can both hold the same aesthetic value.
Works Cited
Schuneman, R. Smith and Hicks, Wilson Photographic Communication: Principles, Problems and
Challenges of Photojournalism. New York: Hastings House, 1972
Power, Mark “Introduction by Mark Power”
Karczmar, Natan and Garidis, Anguéliki “Garry Winogrand
The Man in the Crowd: The Uneasy Streets of Garry Winogrand”
Gladwell, Malcolm Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. New York and Boston:
Little, Brown and Company, 2005
For my museum selection I decided to attend Texas State University’s Wittliff Collection. When I arrived, there was no one else there besides me and the librarian. To be honest, I probably would have never gone to an art museum if my teacher didn’t require me to. This was my first time attending the Wittliff Collection, thus I asked the librarian, “Is there any other artwork besides Southwestern and Mexican photography?” She answered, “No, the Wittliff is known only for Southwestern and Mexican photography.” I smiled with a sense of embarrassment and continued to view the different photos. As I walked through Wittliff, I became overwhelmed with all of the different types of photography. There were so many amazing pieces that it became difficult to select which one to write about. However, I finally managed to choose three unique photography pieces by Alinka Echeverria, Geoff Winningham, and Keith Carter.
Johnson, Brooks. Photography Speaks: 150 Photographers on their Art.” New York: Aperture Foundation Inc., 2004. Print.
Having such an image before our eyes, often we fail to recognize the message it is trying to display from a certain point of view. Through Clark’s statement, it is evident that a photograph holds a graphic message, which mirrors the representation of our way of thinking with the world sights, which therefore engages other
Though people can look into color and composition, others can still even look into the source of the art itself. Cole goes deeper, delving into the source of the art, looking in particular into the idea of cultural appropriation and the view a person can give others. Though it is good for people to be exposed to different opinions of a group or an object, sometimes people can find it difficult to tell the difference between the reality and the art itself. Sometimes art can be so powerful that its message stays and impacts its audience to the point where the viewer’s image of the subject of the art changes entirely. Cole brings up an important question about art, however. Art has become some kind of media for spreading awareness and even wisdom at times, but in reality, “there is also the question of what the photograph is for, what role it plays within the economic circulation of images” (973). Cole might even be implying that Nussbaum’s advertisement can sometimes be the point of some media, and that sometimes the different genres of art can just be to make someone with a particular interest happy. One more point that Cole makes is that “[a]rt is always difficult, but it is especially difficult when it comes to telling other people’s stories.” (974) Truthfully, awareness and other like-concepts are difficult to keep going when a person or a group is not directly involved.
John Mahtesian's photography offers a visual poetry of the human condition. It is a direct expression of his warmth, depth of spirit, and humanity. A true gentleman, extremely humble and unfailingly polite, he achieves an invisibility that is the success of his art. His patience and commitment to his vision allow him to capture moments others could not. If his subjects are aware of his presence, his gentle nature so enchants them that they are unguarded and their essence is revealed. So compelling are his images that we are truly convinced his insights are our own. They make us rejoice in the world around us, and in the nature of human existence.
Globally, different art forms do not necessarily throw their definition in your face. It should be interpreted for subsequent comprehension. (Grundberg 1990: 3) Even though the extra information such as a caption and additional background info can be beneficial to the analysis of a photograph, it is not compulsory to the interpretation and consequent emotional response. (Butler 2009: 66) So, being more dependent on personal perspective, a photograph is widely open to different kinds of interpretation.
Garry Winogrand was born on January 14, 1928 in the Bronx in New York City. His parents were Abraham and Bertha, a leatherworker and seamstress. Winogrand was brought up in a predominately Jewish working class area of New York. At a young age, Winogrand began practicing what would be his legacy. Late at night, he would walk the streets of New York; it was here that he found privacy and solitude. After high school, Winogrand was enlisted in the United States Air Force, after which he used his GI Bill to return to school. He studied painting at City College of New York, after which he studied painting and photography at Columbia University until 1948 (Evans). In 1951, Winogrand’s passion for photography really took flight while at Columbia, he met classmate George Zimbel and together they started the ‘Midnight to Dawn Club’; photographing by day and developing all through the night. He enrolled in a photojournalism class taught by Alexey Brodovitch at the New School for Social Research. Brodovitch rose to fame in...
In the performance of life, one cultural representation that captivates and entrances people more fluently and describes the human experience more eloquently is that of artistic expression. It imposes itself unto the face of society through the individual who creates it as a reflection of any one or combination of personal, emotional, or physiological effects society or one’s own environment has inflicted onto them to compel them convey their feelings to the public. The essential argument, is whether graffiti has a place in the grand context of society. One end of the spectrum paints it as a nuisance to property owners and city officials allow for a criminal perspective of the practice. While at another end you can view it as the artist in a sense blessing others with the fruits of their inner consciousness. An artistic expression no matter what the viewpoint of society, in an anthropological context graffiti is essential to modern society and its impact is one that cannot be forgotten or lived without.
"A photograph is not merely a substitute for a glance. It is a sharpened vision. It is the revelation of new and important facts." ("Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History."). Sid Grossman, a Photo League photographer expressed this sentiment, summarizing the role photography had on America in the 1940’s and 50’s. During this era, photojournalism climaxed, causing photographers to join the bandwagon or react against it. The question of whether photography can be art was settled a long time ago. Most major museums now have photography departments, and the photographs procure pretty hefty prices. The question of whether photojournalism or documentary photography can be art is now the question at hand. Art collectors are constantly looking to be surprised; today they are excited by images first seen in last week’s newspapers as photojournalism revels in the new status as art “du jour” or “reportage art”.
Sontag, Susan. "Essay | Photography Enhances Our Understanding of the World." BookRags. BookRags. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
This weekend I visited the Chicago Art Institute, and more specifically went to the exhibit: Never a Lovely So Real: Photography and Film in Chicago 1950-1980. I took the train down early in the morning, and spent a while walking around the exhibit, and another hour or two exploring the museum. The title of the exhibition comes from a book on Chicago from 1951 in which Nelson Algren, the author, says, “Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never a lovely so real.” The photography collection took up most of the bottom floor, and focused on Chicago as a city of neighborhoods, divided and completely separated from each other. Although segregated for each other, the collection of neighborhoods demonstrates
The rise of photography began in the early 1830’s in France, and wasn’t very popular as most artists preferred a paintbrush and canvas to a new contraption that wasn’t popular and wasn’t manufactured locally or globally yet and that was fairly expensive to try to produce, and since this time it has been debated if photography deserves its place in the art world. Through the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s it grew in popularity and throughout time photography went from being badly received to a new form of art though people around the world still debate if it is indeed “art”. Photography has a long history from the first camera obscura in the 18th century to the latest Nikon or Canon camera in the 21st century.
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In this assignment, I will provide the information on two, specific work of Arts that are unconventional. Therefore, after all the research that I preformed I actually discovered more than two, of course, but I decided to go with the most interesting to me. Justin Gignac created the first work of Art that I choose and the second one I choose was a building. The building is located in Sopot, Poland and it is called The Crooked House. In ending, this paper will have all the information about the work of Arts and the facts that back up the reason for the Artwork being unconventional.
Art is not useless as Oscar Wilde stated; nor is it the death of logic by emotion as Plato supposed. Art is an activist trying to inform and shape the social consciousness. Art by nature is critical and questions how the world is perceived. These questions are pivotal in creating change within society. The Armory Show, a major turning point in American art, for example, was inspired by shifting perceptions of the aesthetic and a stirring toward modernity. The Armory Show was an artistic rebellion against the juries, prizes, and restricted exhibitions that excluded unacademic and yet t...