37. Photographic Art Movements 1: Pictorialism (Impressionist Photography) (1885-1915)
Notes for this lesson came from Eve Schillo and Beth Harris from Smart History, and Photography, The Definitive Visual History, by Tom Ang.
What was it about? What were the goals?
The Pictorialists were photographers who wished to elevate their images to a fine art form. Photography was a new invention and many people disregarded it as a novelty, a chemistry experiment, with great potential for documentation and journalism, but never as an art form. The predominant art movement at the time was Post-Impressionism, which sought to do what a camera could not - to create a personal, abstracted view of reality that reflected the soul of the painter. Pictorialist photographers sought to emulate this look through photo manipulation, using special techniques like the oil print process, the bromoil process, the carbon print, the platinum print, the cyanotype, and gum bichromate print. Pictorialists found ways to soften and blur their images, to change their colors, from browns to blues, and even applied brushes to their images, to give them the semblance of a painted image. They wanted their photos to look moody, beautiful, and personal, just like the painters' art. In fact, their photos were often confused for drawings or lithographs (a printmaking process, based on drawing).
A Bit of Historical Context
The rise of Pictorialism came during a time when the uses and potential of photography was under debate. Painters and photographers were competitors, and they knew it. The Royal Academy's annual exhibit in 1830 showcased over 300 painted portrait miniatures. By 1870, it displayed only 30. Miniature painters were a dying breed, as cameras took their place. Many of the leading Pictorialist photographers started their careers as painters, or at least tried their hand at it.
Some painters, such as Degas, Delacroix, Manet, and others saw photography as a useful device to assist them in their painting, and took reference photos of models and scenes. Others flatly rejected photography, even as a means of reference.
For the first 40 years of photography, it was the domain of a relatively small group of academics and professionals who knew the complex chemistry involved and could replicate it. That changed in 1888, when Kodak, under George Eastman, introduced the first camera for amateurs. "You press the button, we do the rest." All you had to do was buy a camera, which came with a 100 shot film roll. When all your shots were taken, you would mail it all back to Kodak in Rochester New York, and they would develop it for you, sending you back your prints and the camera, ready with a new roll of film. With this new technology, anyone in the world could take photos, and it became one of the greatest fads in the world (still is).
Another major innovation that made this possible was a new, reliable, international postal service. Third, as the industrial revolution created a new, wealthier middle class, cameras became accessible to everyone, and so photo clubs popped up everywhere, on all 7 continents - and all of them wanted to exhibit photos of the Pictorialists to give their own art legitimacy. In a short time, people began taking millions of photos a year - a major success for the technology, but one that presented a new challenge to fine art photographers: how to stand out in a crowd? This was the first time anyone referred to photographs as "snapshots", a term borrowed from hunters, for a hurried shot, without aiming, frequently missing. No one would consider a snapshot a work of art, and many said, if anyone can do it, it can't possibly be art. Pictorialists maintained that whether it was art depended on who held the camera. As critic William Downs said, "Art is not so much a matter of methods and processes as it is an affair of temperament, of taste and of sentiment . . . In the hands of the artist, the photograph becomes a work of art . . ."
The soft Pictorialist style went in and out of fashion more or less at the same time as Post-Impressionism, riding that wave all the way to WWII, when it was supplanted by the ambitious new "Straight Photographers". A major accomplishment of the Pictorialists came in 1910 when the Albright Gallery became the first museum to ever purchase photographs as artwork - buying 15 works by Alfred Stieglitz.
The Underlying Philosophy of the Movement
Any text by the Pictorialists was always devoted to defending the movement as an art form. They felt under attack, and distinguished themselves from mere straight photography, claiming their style and interpretation of reality added a necessary human element to make their work art. They also likened their work to the tonalist painters: Edouard Manet, George Innes, James McNeill Whistler and others. In his article, "A Plea For Art Photography in America," Alfred Stieglitz stressed atmosphere as an essential part of fine art photography (Photographic Mosaics, 1892):
"Atmosphere is the medium through which we see all things. In order, therefore, to see them in their true value on a photograph, as we do in Nature, atmosphere must be there. Atmosphere softens all lines; it graduates the transition from light to shade; it is essential to the reproduction of the sense of distance. That dimness of outline which is characteristic for distant objects is due to atmosphere. Now, what atmosphere is to Nature, tone is to a picture."
Innovative Techniques:
Combination Printing
This is the process of combining photographic negatives from multiple photos, to turn them into one final image. It's a kind of collage, more realistic than simply gluing pieces together.
The Cyanotype Process
This is a monochrome photograph that is cyan-blue in color. It uses chemicals that are sensitive to ultraviolet (UV) light. The process was invented by Sir John Hirschel in 1842.
The Carbon Process
This is a photograph that replaces metallic powders with pigmented gelatin. The carbon process was invented by Alphonse Poitevin in 1855. Commercial carbon tissue was invented by Joseph Swan in 1864, and was soon sold around the world. Once popular, it is now rarely, if ever, made or sold.
The Platinum Print Process
This process uses platinum powder (in combination with palladium) to create a photograph. Because there is no gelatin used, the powder is placed directly onto the paper, creating a matte finish. This was patented by William Willis in 1873.
The Oil Print Process
This is a photograph using a layer of gelatin mixed with dichromate salts to make it light-sensitive. It is then treated in such a way so that the areas exposed to light will hold a layer of oil paint. The resulting photo is very soft, and resembles a painting or pastel. One problem is that the final image has to be the same size as the negative.
The Gum Bichromate Process
Similar to the Oil Print Process, this one uses gum arabic, and the final print must also be the same size as the negative. John Pouncy perfected this process in 1858.
The Bromoil Process
This is a variation of the Oil Print Process using silver bromide, devised by E.J. Wall and C. Welborne Piper in 1907, so that prints could be made using an enlarger to maker larger prints. By the 1930's this process had advanced to where artists could make full-color prints.
How was it represented in other arts? Music? Literature? Architecture?
Pictorialism was mostly an adjunct to impressionist and post-impressionist painting, sharing a lot of its beliefs about art and aesthetics. Pictorialism itself was exclusive to photography.
Was It Great?
When such a large movement involves so many people working for so many years, it's hard for it not to produce great images, and the Pictorialists certainly deliver. Some people of the day debated the validity of their work, comparing it unfavorably to the greatest painters and sculptors, but art isn't a competition. An artwork needs merely to be great, not "greater" than any other. The Pictorialists created works of breath-taking beauty, filled with stories, impressions, sensations, and emotional impact. If they are over-shadowed in art history, it does not detract from the greatness of their work.
Some Leading Figures:
Julia Margaret Cameron (British, 1815-1879)
Henry Peach Robinson (English, 1830-1901)
Frederick Hollyer (English, 1838-1933)
Gertrude Kasebier (American, 1852-1934)
George Sutcliffe (English, 1853-1941)
Frederick Evans (English, 1853-1943)
George Davison (English, 1854-1930)
William K. Burton (Scottish, 1856-1899)
Peter Henry Emerson (British, 1856-1936)
Constant Puyo (French, 1857-1933)
Otto Scharf (German, 1858-1947)
Robert Demachy (French, 1859-1936)
Ogawa Kazumasa (Japanese, 1860-1929)
Antonio Canovas (Kaulak) (Spanish, 1862-1933)
Ella McBride (American, 1862-1965)
Alfred Horsley Hinton (English, 1863-1908)
Fred Holland Day (American, 1864-1933)
John Kaufmann (Australian, 1864-1942)
James Craig Annan (Scottish, 1864-1946)
Alfred Stieglitz (American, 1864-1946)
Kajima Seibei (Japanese, 1866-1924)
Alice Boughton (American, 1866-1943)
Heinrich Kuhn (Austrian, 1866-1944)
Eva Watson-Schütze (American, 1867-1935)
Adolf de Meyer (German-English, 1868-1946)
Jane Reece (American, 1868-1961)
Joseph Turney Keiley (American, 1869-1914)
Arnold Genthe (German-American, 1869-1942)
Anne Wardrope Brigman (American, 1869-1950)
Clarence Hudson White (American, 1871-1925)
Harold Mortimer Lamb (Canadian, 1872-1970)
Adelaide Hanscom Leeson (American, 1875-1931)
Jan Bulhak (Polish, 1876-1950)
Dr. Kyo Koike (Japanese-American, 1878-1947)
Harold Cazneaux (Australian, 1878-1953)
Emily H. Pitchford (American, 1878–1956)
Asakichi “Frank” Kunishige (Japanese American, 1878-1960)
Edward Steichen (American, 1879-1973)
Paul Haviland (French-American, 1880-1950)
George H. Seeley (American, 1880-1955)
Sydney Carter (Canadian, 1880-1956)
Miron A. Sherling (1880-1958)
Arthur Goss (Canadian, 1881-1940)
Nikolai Andreyev (Russian, 1882-1947)
Alvin Langdon Coburn (American, 1882-1966)
Sinzo Fukuhara (Japanese, 1884-1948)
Cecil Bostock (Australian, 1884-1939)
Adolf Fassbender (German-American,1884-1980)
Frank Hurley (Australian, 1885-1962)
Monte Luke (Australian, 1885-1962)
Roso Fukuhara (Japanese, 1892-1946)
Olive Cotton (Australian, 1911-2003)
Some of the greatest artworks of the time:
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