Additional work for LO1

1.
Unit 23 LO1
An Analysis Of Historic Photographic Art
By Adam Green
Upon looking back at the history of photography, you’ll discover that not all photography is art. The
earliest examples of photography were merely experiments. Some are simply for documentation of
events, such as meetings, pets, family etc. However, photography has since become more of an
art form.
This is a photo by Edward Steichen, taken in 1921.
Fine art photography has no universally recognised definition, however, to help define what it is, I
can identify key artworks that can be called photography. Fine art can be landscapes, portraits,
surrealistic, or anything inbetween. Fine art photography pays attention to composition, quality of
lighting, focus, and the post production process. The end result of a fine art photo is different to a
regular photograph. Whereas a regular photograph might end up in the family album, or in a
magazine or a newspaper, or on social media, fine art photography is intended to be shown in art
galleries. Photographs such as this are often printed in huge size so that they can be fully
appreciated.
It is often debated what the difference is between good artistic photography, and just snapshots.
Looking at the history of both can help us distinguish between the two. Please see the next six
pages to see my look through history of famous fine art photographers.

2.
Historically Recognised Photographic
Artists
Oscar Gustave Rejlander was a pioneering Victorian art photographer and an expert in
photomontage. He frequently worked with Charles Darwin. The image above was taken in 1857 ­
over 150 years ago.
Julia Margaret Cameron was a photographer from the UK who was well known for her portraits of
celebrities of the time.
Albert Bierstadt was a painter and photographer of German origin, and was best known for his
beautiful landscapes of the American West and scenes of Westward Expansion.

3.
Lewis Carroll, is best known for being a photographer and an author. Sadly, about 60% of his
original works are missing.
Thomas Moran was a photographer and painter. As you can see from the example above, his
photography work often featured the Rocky Mountains.
Eugène Atget was a photographer who was well known for her works on the architecture of France
(particularly Paris)

4.
Alfred Stieglitz was an photographer and modern art promoter from America. Throughout his
career, he fulfilled his goal of making fine art photography an accepted art form. He is mainly
known for his beautiful landscapes.
Edward J. Steichen was an photographer, painter, and art gallery curator from America.He mainly
focused on fashion photography and fine art photography. At one point he was the most known
and highest paid photographer in the world.
Frantisek Drtikol was a Czech photographer. He is known for his fine art photos. Particularly the
amount of character they have.

5.
Edward Weston was one of the most innovative and influential American photographers. During his
career, he took a wide variety of fine art photographs, ranging from landscapes, still lifes, portraits,
and genre scenes.
Man Ray was a modernist artist. He was mainly noticed for his avant­garde photography, he was
also a fashion and portrait photographer, whose subjects included many of the great artists of the
day. He is also known for developing the photographic method of solarization and invented a
technique using photograms. His art is conceptual.

6.
Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko was a Russian artist. He was one of the founders of the
movement called constructivism.
John Heartfield is a German photomontage artist. He frequently made fun of German pride. During
world war 2, he fled to Britain where he make photography art mocking Hitler.

7.
Lazslo Moholy­Nagy was an artist from Hungary. He specialised in painting, photography, film, and
graphic design. He was also known for his nude artworks.
Erwin Blumenfeld was a Jewish photography artist. He is best known for his collages mocking
Adolf Hitler. In 1936, he ran away to Paris but was later caught by Nazis and put into a
concentration camp in 1940. A year later he fled to America.
Hans Bellmer was a photographer and sculptor from Germany. The majority of his had dolls and
nudes in them.