architecture, the machine & the worker

CITY CITY PHOTOGRAPHYPHOTOGRAPHY

– Historical Styles• Berenice Abbott and Eugène Atget,

and Henri Cartier-Bresson developed intensely personal styles

• Photographic subject matter has shifted from the past to the present– in the past, many photographers

limited their subject matter to static things: the still life, the distant or closely viewed landscape, and the formal portrait

– the present focuses on new forms in machinery and architecture, new concerns with the experience of the working classes, and a new interest in the timeless forms of nature

•

an appreciation for the an appreciation for the

CITYCITY

– The Machine, The Building & the Worker• modernism: a deliberate philosophical and

practical estrangement or divergence from the past in the arts and literature occurring esp. in the course of the 20th century and taking form in any of various innovative movements and styles

• man-made: produced artificially; not resulting from natural processes – created by the technological development of mankind in contrast to natural processes (growth, development, erosion etc.)

• the new documentarians commenced probing what has been called the “social landscape,” often mirroring in their images the anxiety and alienation of urban life

citylife, cityscapecitylife, cityscape

– Biography• 1898–1991, b. Springfield, Ohio. • She began making extraordinary

portraits of the artistic and literary celebrities of the 1920s

• Her great documentation of New York City includes many of her best photographs which were collected in her book Changing New York (1939).

• Her images of New York street life, from grocery stores to fish markets to subways, are among her best loved

• In 1958, she produced a stunningly beautiful set of photographs for a high-school physics text that some critics consider her finest work.

• She discovered the work of Eugène Atget in 1925 and secured him international recognition

berenice abbott berenice abbott

– Biography• July 17, 1898 – December 9, 1991 • an American photographer best known

for her black-and-white photography of New York City architecture and urban design of the 1930s

– “Straight Photography”• Abbott's photography was very much a

display of the rise in development in technology and society

• stressed the importance of photographs being unmanipulated in both subject matter & developing processes

• Abbott's work was exhibited with that of Man Ray, André Kertész, and others in Paris, in the "Salon de l'Escalier" (more formally, the Premier Salon Indépendant de la Photographie)

berenice abbott berenice abbott

berenice abbott berenice abbott

– Biography• B. 1857 ‑ D. 1927 • French photographer noted for his

photographs documenting architecture and street scenes

• retained his bohemian affection for the working person and worried about the petty tradespeople

– Influential Photographer• advertised his photographs as "documents

for artists“• used a large-format wooden bellows camera• images were on 18x24cm glass dry plates• wispy, drawn-out sense of light due to his

long exposures, a fairly wide view that suggested space and ambiance more than surface detail

• his photos show a mechanical vignetting • Berenice Abbott was the key that unlocked

Atget's work which influenced many future movements

eugene atgeteugene atget

eugene atgeteugene atget

– architectural photography emphasizes: • geometry and structure • “play of light”

1. windows & reflections 2. silhouettes and shadows

– the silhouette • originalyl developed in the 1700s • brought back during the 20th

century in order to capture architecture

• especially for geometry and structure

• and the play of light • created through backlighting

rebirth of the rebirth of the silhouettesilhouette

– Biography• B. 1709- D. 1767

– “The Silhouette”• outline image, especially a profile drawing

solidly filled in or a cutout pasted against a lighter background

• especially popular around 1750–1850 as the least expensive method of portraiture

• Silhouettes are most often made by a skilled silhouette artist by looking at a subject's profile, whether in person or from a photograph, and simply cutting out their likeness freehand

• the invention of the camera signaled the end of the silhouette as a widespread form of portraiture.

• however, their popularity is being reborn in a new generation of people who appreciate the silhouette as a nostalgic and unique way of capturing image

étienne de étienne de silhouette silhouette

silhouettessilhouettes

– Your Project:• traditional , 10 image series documenting

a theme• 10 images stylized to show unity • 10 images documenting the urban setting• 10 images that show “beauty from the

ugly”• your images can be of anything, the only

stipulations are that the images have to:1. be situated or located in an urban

setting 2. show unity through subject matter, style

or message/intent 3. pull from the sources of the modern

photographers: the machine, architecture and/or the working class (this encompasses so much of the man-made world, but specifically limits the natural world)

•

the urban settingthe urban setting