Aspects of ModernismPart One:

‘Pure’ and ‘Straight’ Photography

Early 20th Century- WWI

“Form follows Function”

● The mantra of modernism● For photography this means that photographs

should look like photographs● No manipulation● A move away from ‘pictorialism’ of the

middle to end of the 19th century● An exploration of the qualities specific to the

medium

Alfred Steiglitz

● The force behind the establishment of the photograph to the status of an art in it’s own right

● Birth of ‘straight’ photography

Flatiron building 1903

The Steerage, 1907

Pure photography and the f.64 group

● US group based in San Fancisco in early 1930’s● Founded by Willard Van Dyke and Ansel

Adams● Gallery in his home called 683 (Brockhurst

Oakland)● See handout for the group manifesto● Characteristics: sharp focus, detail through

print, natural forms

Edward Weston, Nude, 1936 and Pepper No.30

Paul Strand, Wall Street, New York, 1915

Ansel Adams, (Yosemite), Monolith 1927

Willard Van Dyke, still from The City, 1938

Imogen Cunningham, Magnolia Blossom, 1925

Visual Language of pure and straight photography

● Depth of field-as much of the image in focus as possible

● Contrast- strong use of full tonal range (black to white)

● Exquisite hand printing, no manipulation● Subject matter: Art genres eg: still life and the

nude, landscape etc.● The City, people in relation to technology

Further Reading

● Newhall, B, The History of Photography, Chapter 10, ‘Straight Photography’

● Clarke, G, The Photograph, Chapter 9, ‘The photograph as Fine Art’