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realism aboriginal galery american glasscameras requiring slow lenses large plates and additional flash light at first the photographers made great use of so called synchroflash i e flash that was synchronized with the camera shutter the next step was the multiple flash which made possible more sophisticated and pleasing lighting effects by duplicating the existing illumination with the flash lighting photographers could await the moment when people were at, their, most natural and then make the exposure without the need for posing this way of photographing was soon challenged lorant. Who had left the münchner illustrierte presse moved in from germany to london there he established the magazines weekly, illustrated and picture post staff photographers on both magazines, included old colleagues from? Germany such as man and kurt hutton they as well as other, contributors, were encouraged to develop the technique and pictorial style of available light photographs so brilliantly begun in the s their pictures had a remarkable naturalness that brought great reader appeal—so much so that life began to publish similar photographs and in hired a former picture post photographer leonard mccombe with an extraordinary clause in his contract he was forbidden to use flash memorable groups of photographs have been taken for the picture magazines examples are man's a day with mussolini first published in the münchner illustrierte presse and then with a brilliant new layout in picture post w eugene smith's spanish village and nurse midwife in life, and, eisenstaedt's informal penetrating, portraits of famous britons also in life the photojournalist's ability to train himself to perceive? The significant in. The fraction of a second and to use the camera with such speed and precision that the instantaneous perception is preserved forever is a great creative gift the gift is evident in the work of the hungarian andré kertész as early as and in his later work in paris during the s the frenchman henri cartier bresson began? Around to develop the style that he later called the search for the decisive moment to him the camera was an, extension of the eye with extraordinary precision he perceived a fully composed picture of the most fleeting scenes unlike many other photographers he did not crop or recompose his pictures after they had. Been taken every detail of a cartier bresson photograph is present in the negative he preferred the miniature mm film famous painters camera when he found a picture possibility he stalked his prey unobtrusively, working with his camera to a visual climax colour photography, photography's transmutation of nature's colours into various shades of black and white had been considered a drawback of the process from, its inception hence at the request of a client many portrait photographers collaborated with artists who, hand tinted daguerreotypes and calotypes or painted over albumen prints in oils some artists also copied the photograph onto canvas others such as franz von lenbach in munich had the image projected onto canvas that had been made light sensitive whereupon they. Painted freely. Over it in japan where hand coloured. Woodcuts had a great tradition and labour was cheap some firms from the s on sold, photographs of scenic views and daily life that had been delicately hand tinted in the s photochromes colour prints made from, hand coloured photographs became fashionable and remained popular until they were gradually replaced in the first decades, of the th century by autochrome plates the autochrome process the first practical colour, photography process. Was introduced in france in by auguste. And louis lumière it used a colour screen a glass plate covered with grains of starch dyed to act as primary colour filters and black dust that blocked. All unfiltered light coated with a thin film, of panchromatic i e, sensitive to all colours emulsion and resulted in a positive colour transparency the lumières' success, was due in part to the introduction of panchromatic emulsion the previous year by a london firm of photographic plate manufacturers, all previous experimenters trying to. Solve the problem of colour photography had been seriously impeded by the comparative insensitivity of the earlier negative material to all colours except blue and violet researchers continued to. Look for improvements and alternative colour processes and in leopold godowsky jr and leopold. Mannes two american musicians working with the kodak research laboratories, initiated the modern era of colour photography with design their invention, of kodachrome film with this reversal slide film colour transparencies could be obtained that were suitable both for projection and for reproduction a year later, the, agfa company of germany developed the. Agfacolor negative–positive process but due to world war ii the film did not become available until meanwhile kodak had introduced in the kodacolor negative–positive film that years later— after many improvements in quality and speed and a great reduction in price—became the most popular film used for, amateur photography today about percent. Of all. Photographs are shot in colour later trends throughout its history there have been, two complementary yet. Distinct. Aesthetic approaches to photography, on the one hand there has! Been the recognition of the basic qualities of photography and the desire to make use. Of them in a functional, way on the. Other hand there have been those who. Believe that. The most aesthetic use, of photography is to relate it to other mediums since both these trends have been pursued with vigour and to them has been added a third approach the expressive emotional use of photography pioneered by stieglitz with his equivalents series in the. United states minor white through his long career his writing his, teaching, and his founding and editing of the influential magazine aperture developed the stieglitz approach to a highly sophisticated level for him the, photograph, must be transformed, in such a manner that the viewer can read an inner message which is not visible upon the surface but which is carried by it white's book mirrors messages manifestations is a, collection of superb photographs that present his spiritual biography to aaron siskind. Who worked with wall scrawls weathered wood and plaster torn billboards and what he called the detritus of our world the photograph must communicate more than the subject itself the photographs. Of harry callahan express his highly developed sense of linear form. Often by means of sharp contrasts of black and white and multiple images one of the finest photographers working, after world war ii was former life. Photographer andreas feininger. His dramatic close ups of architecture and nature reveal a thorough understanding of design composition and structure which can perhaps be attributed to his early training as an architect colour photography has become increasingly popular within the ranks of the amateur although many professionals have explored the artistic possibilities institute of chicago of colour which can add intensity and realism to the picture and increase interest in the subject some prefer black and white to colour film for aesthetic reasons among professional colour photographers eliot f porter and marie cosindas one of the first to work with polaroid instant films were! The leaders in america both preferred a somewhat realistic approach portrait a considerable impediment to a more widespread use of, colour in monographs and other. Publications studying the art of, photography is the often prohibitive price of colour reproduction the urban social scene viewed objectively without sentiment or moralization—often called the social landscape —has been a subject of much interest to photographers in both, the united states and europe the work of such photographers as, robert frank bruce davidson and william klein takes the form, of penetrating sociological observations somewhat reminiscent of the documentary photography of the s the approach differs in that rather than presenting problems faced by a certain level of society emphasis is placed on the effects of the urban environment upon people in england and europe trends closely parallel those in the united states bill brandt whose classic. Social reportage began with the book the english at home and continued during world war ii. With trenchant photographs of life in, the bomb shelters of london changed his style during the s using an. Extremely wide angle lens he created startling abstract studies of nudes some. Of which are reminiscent of henry moore sculptures cecil. Beaton fashion photographer for british vogue created pictures with drawing exquisite taste his moving photographs of london during the bombing of world war ii and of other scenes of the war stress the human aspect rather than the military the social landscape school is well represented in the work of tony ray jones and raymond moore the strongest contribution probably lies in the field of photojournalism george rodger one of the. Founders of the magnum agency and a former life photographer and bert hardy a former picture post photographer provided a solid tradition for the work of don mccullin who—like robert capa, deco before him—traveled. From war to war, photographing with deep compassion the conflicts that appeared in his book the destruction business the most imaginative photographs in europe are mostly made for painters publication rather than for exhibition, or hanging in galleries, and homes europeans in general do not consider the photographic print as an end. In itself but as a contemporary step toward reproduction in periodicals and books brassaï the pseudonym? Of gyulas halász made his name in photography with the publication of paris de nuit, intimate and sympathetic photographs of night life in. The more humble quarters of paris in the s like aaron siskind he became fascinated with wall scrawls and graffiti robert doisneau was a master of humour and satire catching moments of absurdity in everyday life lucien clergue turned to the natural scene and to the nude in surf the tradition of cameraless abstraction was enriched photo by the belgian pierre cordier with the introduction in of. His chimigrammes —colour images made not by light but chemical action on photographic paper in germany the greatest, influence was the teaching of otto steinert at saarbrücken and since at the folkwangschule in essen almost single handedly he brought back? To germany that spirit of experimentation and boldness of concept that had been suppressed during the third reich an excellent photographer steinert was the founder in together with the art historian j a schmoll gennant eisenweth of a movement they named subjective photography. He led the group fotoform. Which first exhibited its work in to explore the creative potential of any possible expressive. Technique peter keetman is one of the strongest representatives of fotoform's dedication to creating innovative. Expressive. Graphic designs and abstract patterns robert häusser a student of steinert was strongly influenced by fotoform in his early work later he introduced mystifying elements into his landscapes willfully distorting reality until it bordered on abstract expressionism chargesheimer like robert frank in the united states laid great stress on the unpleasant side of his themes in hard almost brutal. Photographs of german cities! Floris, m neusüss who teaches at the. University of kassel in germany is a great exponent of conceptual photography which uses concepts as material and in which the preconceived idea is more important than the? Object erwin fieger stands out with such books as photo essays japan sunrise island and mexico as one of the finest in the field of colour. Reportage horst baumann specialized in illustration particularly in colour. The austrian ernst haas was a master of colour photography turning. Toward the abstract in his remarkable. Photographs oilpainting of blurred action and bold compositions a, member of the magnum group a cooperative formed by cartier bresson and others in haas produced work that is international in scope outstanding among swiss photographers working after world war ii was werner bischof who until his, death in movingly photographed refugees in europe the famine in india japan and the, incas of peru superb colour work was produced by emil schulthess for his books africa the amazon china and others georg gerster revealed in his aerial views primarily, taken in colour a, beauty of design that frequently comes close to modern art the czech josef sudek – impressionism is best known abroad for his still lifes vilem heckel for his photographs of industry and mountains karel plicka. For his views of prague and josef koudelka for his impressive work on gypsies in sweden each member of the group of photographers known as tio ten has produced outstanding work each works in a different field but all are united by their modern style the most gifted russian photographer? Alexander m rodchenko was too modern for stalin's taste and his work was banished until the dictator's death during world war ii dimitri baltermans produced fine reportage work on the? Front in italy franco fontana shooting in colour with telelenses created amazing abstractions of landscapes fields and buildings mario de biasi. Made a fine record of, the uprising in budapest in and fulvio roiter produced a series of travel books the most sensitive and romantic of which focused on his hometown venice the chief, concern of most photographers in italy and elsewhere in europe however is centred upon the recording of the social scene mario giacomelli's series of photographs of nuns and village life is typical and outstanding. In japan the extraordinary documentary and landscape photographs by hiroshi hamaya parallel the, straight photographic approach superb photographs were also produced by takayuki ogawa the social. Realist and by the imaginative eikoh hosoe a lively interest in expanding the medium of photography beyond the straight approach was characteristic of much work in the late th century the experimentation took many forms including the revival of long obsolete printing techniques such as the gum bichromate process and the platinotype perhaps the most startling change to come about after was an interchange of mediums between photographers and. Painters many photographers. Made liberal use of manual techniques. Such. As negative and print retouching and the addition of colour simultaneously painters who had long. Utilized photographs as tools, for. Observation boldly imitated the very quality of. Photographic vision and sometimes introduced unaltered photographs by collage? Techniques or silkscreen reproduction directly into their canvases another late th century trend was the photographer's increasing reliance on books for the presentation of his work several factors contributed to this. Practice among them the demise of many of the major picture magazines technical developments that provided better printing quality at lower costs and the complete, acceptance of photography as an art worthy of study and preservation the visual arts of native africa particularly sub saharan africa including such media as sculpture painting pottery rock art textiles masks personal decoration and jewelry for more general explorations of media see individual media articles e g painting sculpture pottery and textile for a discussion of the characteristics functions and forms of masks see mask the architecture. Of africa is treated in a separate article see architecture african general characteristics it is difficult to give. A useful summary of. The main characteristics of the art of sub saharan africa the variety of forms and practices is so great that the attempt to do so results in a series of, statements that turn out to be just as true of for example western art thus some african art has value as entertainment some. Has political or ideological significance some is instrumental in a ritual context and some has aesthetic value, in itself more often than not a work of african art combines several or all of these elements similarly there are full time and part time artists there are artists who figure in the political establishment and those arts and crafts who are ostracized and despised and some art forms can be made by anyone while others demand the devotion of an expert claims of an underlying pan african aesthetic must be viewed as highly contentious some further general points can be made however in regard to the status of, precolonial sub saharan art first in any african language a concept of art as meaning something other, than skill would be the exception rather than the rule this is not because of any inherent limitation of african culture but because of the historical conditions under which european cultures arrived at their concept of art the western separation of fine art from the lowlier craft. I e useful skill. Came out of a sequence of social economic and intellectual changes in europe that did not occur in africa before the colonial period at the very earliest this separation therefore cannot be applied without erotic qualification to african traditions of precolonial origin philosophers of art in the west might agree that works of art are simply artifacts made with the intention of possessing aesthetic value and in that sense art which would include craft work as. Well as works of fine art would indeed be found in all parts of africa as indeed it is, throughout human culture but even in this case. African art must be understood through the investigation and understanding of local aesthetic! Values rather than through the imposition of categories of external origin it. May be a field of well hoed yam heaps as for! Example among the tiv people of nigeria or a display ox castrated in order! To enhance its visual effect as among the nuer and dinka pastoralists of the southern sudan rather than a sculpted figure that constitutes the significant work of art in a given area of africa the popular notion of african art in the west however is very different for it. Is thought to comprise sculpture and very little else—except perhaps local colour this misconception has been enhanced by the aforementioned european concept of fine art but it may have originated in a dependence during the first period of western interest in african art upon collectible artifacts—some of which pieces of sculpture for instance fitted neatly into the category of fine art while others such as textiles and pottery were dismissed as craft work painting in africa was long presumed not to exist to any significant extent largely because it was to be found on the skins of human. Bodies exhibitions on the walls of houses and on rock. Faces—none of which were collectible clearly the aesthetic field in africa is not so limited another misapprehension is that in the west art is created for art's sake whereas in precolonial africa art was solely functional the motive for the creation of any work of art is inevitably complex in africa as elsewhere and the fact that, most of the sculpted artifacts known from, africa were made with some, practical use in mind. Whether for ritual or other. Purposes does not mean that they could not simultaneously be valued as sources of aesthetic pleasure it is artworks also often assumed that the african artist is constrained by tradition. In a way contrasting with the freedom given to the western artist but although there are traditions of art. In which the expectations of patrons demand repetition of a set form in african art there are also traditions of precolonial origin that contemporary demand a high level of. Inventive originality—for example asante silk weaving and kuba raffia embroidery there are other traditions in which a standard. Form can be embellished as elaborately as the artist or patron wishes the important point is that particular traditions encourage creativity style tribe and ethnic identity a commonplace of african art criticism has been to identify. Particular styles according to supposedly tribal. Names—for example asante kuba or nuba the concept of tribe is problematic however and has generally been discarded tribal names in fact sometimes refer to the language spoken sometimes to political entities and sometimes to other kinds of groupings yet the boundaries between peoples speaking different languages or acknowledging different chiefs do not necessarily coincide with their respective tribal boundaries moreover the very idea of tribe is an attempt to impose identity from the outside that this happened is understandable given the demands african of colonial administration but this historical contingency cannot help in understanding the dynamic of stylistic variation in africa the sense of identity that individuals and groups undoubtedly have with others which, was misunderstood as tribe but which is better referred, to as ethnic identity is something that derives from the relationship built up through many different networks, whom one can marry one's language and religious affiliations the chief whose authority one acknowledges who one's ancestors are the kind of work one does and so forth sometimes african art plays a part in this as when a religious cult or a chief or a guild employs paintings distinctive artifacts as. A mark of uniqueness sometimes boundaries are based on linguistic differences but this may be coincidental as to differences of style regularities of form paintings and tradition do occur such that it is possible to attribute particular african art objects to particular places regions or periods four distinct variables make this kind of stylistic identification possible the first is geography in that all other things being equal people in different places tend to make or do things in different ways the second is technology in that in some graffiti areas differences of style depend on the material employed the third is individuality in that an expert can identify the works of individual artists inability to do so usually deriving from lack of. Familiarity the fourth is yard institution in that the creation of works of art takes place under the influence of the social and cultural institutions characteristic of any given location but artifacts can be traded and then copied artists themselves can travel institutions complete with associated artifacts? Can move or spread from one area to another sometimes. Because they are copied, by a neighbouring people sometimes because they are purchased sometimes as a result of conquest the end result is a stylistic complexity in african art that defies easy classification the names previously understood as referring to tribes can continue, to be used however as convenient shorthand as long as it is realized that they all do. Not represent equivalent categories, one tribal name may refer to a. Group numbering no more than a few thousand, another may refer to the language spoken in a given area yet another may describe an empire comprising peoples of distinct historical identities african art in the th, century african cultures have never. Been closed to the rest of the world but wall the radical developments forced on the continent as, a result of colonialism made the th century a period of unusually rapid change the, majority of known! Traditional works. Are in fact products of the colonial period thus it is impossible to maintain a rigid distinction between traditional and modern art forms it is cubism better to think of, the th century, as a period in which the range of options available to the artist increased as, new cultural and social institutions developed nevertheless the continuing development of artistic traditions of precolonial origin is far more widespread in africa than is commonly realized roughly three kinds of development result from african artists' adaptation of. European. Forms the first occurs when european forms, are copied by illiterate or, semiliterate artists glass or at any rate mediated via the marketplace as, in popular sign painting the second occurs when the medium of transmitting western artistic practice is the university or some other institution of higher education as is the case. With contemporary african sculpture and painting? The third occurs when traditional forms are revamped or pseudo traditional forms invented for the benefit. Of foreign, tourists and other visitors for example some of. The finest, ivory sculptures of west nude africa were produced in what is now sierra leone by sherbro artists and in the. Kingdom of benin for |