HISTORY BEYOND PHOTOGRAPHY (pt. 2 of 3)
Pick up a camera, point it toward the horizon, and focus. Press the shutter and, hooray, you've taken the exact same picture of the Grand Canyon as 50 other people in the past two hours.
Why do we continue to duplicate the same framing, composition, and conceptualization as generations before us? Who established these rules we continue to follow? From where did the modern ideas of what makes a "good" image originate?
The answers lie nowhere within the short history of photography, but all the way back to the first person who smeared ground root juice across the rough surface of a cave wall. As was covered in the first part of this article, artistic imagery is as basic and elemental to the human condition as food and shelter. The creation and preservation of images is universal, found in every corner of the world inhabited by humans.
What began as crude, sometimes stick-figure drawings slowly developed and became increasingly complex. While direct parallels between photography and ancient art may be few, from the sixth century AD forward we can begin to see distinct patterns of style, composition, lighting, and conceptualization that remain as important to photography as they were to early painters.
Much of what remains from first millennium artists in the West has a decidedly religious tone. Whether this is due to religious zeal within the art community or the destruction of secular works by religious authority is more a matter of speculation than fact. What is certain is that by 200 AD early Christian artists were adapting Russian styles of painting and mosaics, and solidified much of the religious symbolism that still exists today. Examples of such symbolism include the dove, the fish, the lamb, the cross and the Good Shepherd. Much of the form and structure still found in stained glass windows was established during this period as well.1
It was not until the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that Medieval painters began actually signing their works and creating prolific works that have been preserved and are worthy of study. Consider the following pieces from that period:
In The Madonna of St. Francis by Italian painter Cenni di Pepo (Giovanni) Cimabue (c. 1240 — c. 1302) one may recognize a great deal of religious and mythological symbolism that seems almost standard, such as the halos and shape and design of the angel's wings (Victoria's Secret had to get the idea from somewhere). Photographers will note the position of the heads, with chins tilted downward and the broad side of the face toward the presumed light source, minimizing shadows. Shadows were considered symbolic of evil during this period, and therefore all but eliminated from Medieval paintings. Instead, figures were often outlined to separate the person from the background. One also notes the positions of the Madonna, child and St. Francis within the frame, creating a visual hierarchy that is still very applicable to photography composition.
Another strong example from this period is Adoration of the Magi by Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267 - January 8, 1337):
Again, one notices the absence of shadow, a flatness especially in the faces with only slight shading applied to give a sense of depth and define major features. Unfortunately, years of slow deterioration minimize the effect this painting would have had when it was fresh. We now see only the faintest hints of the blue in Mary's robe and other colors have severely faded and cracked. However, one again notices the posing, very deliberate and symbolic, as well as the positioning of elements (such as Joseph's subordinate place behind Mary and the child). Modern nativities still often duplicate this very scene.
Moving into the 15th century and Renaissance period, what stands out as the major contributions are the definition of true linear perspective and the concept of balance. While ratio, especially in regard to the proportion of human limbs, is still largely absent, concepts of perspective and balance established during this period remain critical for modern day photographers.
A strong example of both elements is Raphael's Marriage of the Virgin:
The lines establishing perspective between the gathering in the foreground and the structure in the background are immediately evident and quite strongly portrayed. One also notices balance in the placement of five figures on either side of the centralized clergy (a sixth figure vaguely appears on the right side, but not enough to disturb the balance). Almost our entire sense of linear perspective and balance come from Renaissance art and even among the most abstract of modern pieces little has changed.2
The Renaissance brought us masters such as Michaelangelo and Da Vinci, and with them a very different sense of how space is represented on a two-dimensional surface. Where Giotto had used tonality to create form, Renaissance painters began to give more consideration to the placement of light. Now, we begin to see shadows. Pictures begin to represent multiple light sources coming from different directions.3
One of the most engaging examples, without submitting the obvious, is Botticelli's Venus and Mars:
This painting completed in 1483 demonstrates practically all the elements that make the Renaissance so unique from perspective and balance, to portrayal of light and emotion. The image contains everything one would look for in a good contemporary photograph, yet it pre-dates modern photography by over 600 years!
A secondary but unquestionably important matter to consider is that the painters of the Renaissance were not limited to their work with a brush. Almost all the masters from this period studied heavily and were equally proficient in some aspect of science, mathematics and philosophy. Their work and understanding in those separate fields were critically important in the composition and style of the artwork they created. Therein lies a challenge for the modern photographer in that we too often limit ourselves to this one medium. To the extent we also devote some time to the study of the world around us, we improve our understanding and comprehension of exactly what one is photographing, resulting in infinitely more creative and unique images.
As time progresses into the 1600 and the Baroque period, the European center for painting shifted Northward to the Netherlands and the widely respected Flemish school. Artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, and Abraham Janssens. Three very important elements came from this period: Collaboration, specialization, and portraiture.
Collaboration is an element many photographers might regard as being inapplicable to their field. The Flemish painters, however, found that together they created much greater, more finely detailed work than they might on their own. For example, within an elaborate scene Frans Snyders might paint the animals, Jan Brueghel the Elder might paint the landscape and flowers, then Rubens would pain the figures. These artists understood that the sum of the whole was far greater than the individual parts could ever produce. While the concept may seem foreign to photographers, it may well be an avenue worth ardent pursuit.
Specialization was very much the order of the day, just as niche photography has been for the past thirty years. During this period, work broke out into specific fields such as architecture painting, landscape and seascape painting, animals and still life, and a very strong emphasis on flower and garland painting.
Bouquet by Jan Brueghel the Elder.
This specialization led not only to some of the most enduring masterpieces, but to an emphasis on accuracy and realism. Across the various specialization there was a desire to depict life as it actually exists, whether through the expressive peasant portraits, such as the painting below by Adriaen Brouwer, or large moralistic scenes such as Jacob Jordaen's The King Drinks (second image down, note the wiping of the bare baby's butt prominently placed in the foreground).
Portraiture reached popularity of previously unknown proportion during this period and even painters such as Rubens, who was not predominantly a portrait artist, were frequently pressed into duty capturing the likeness of friends and family. Many of the poses that were established during this period are still considered standard and quite common among contemporary portrait photographers.4
Finally, for this article at least, we consider the Rococo movement among French painters of the 18th century. No, this doesn't have anything to do with chocolate. The word is a combination of the French word for shell, rocaille, and the Italian word for Baroque style, barocco. Here, the emphasis shift to ornamentation. Suddenly, as though by some form of magic, there are cherubs EVERYWHERE! Delicate colors, curving [shell-like) forms, and a strong departure away from religious themes quite literally turned the art world, and French society in general, on its ear. This has never set well with the Roman Catholic church which was a dominant political force in France at the time. The Catholic Encyclopedia states of Rococo that, "its obtrusive artificiality, unnaturalness, and triviality have a distracting effect"
Here one can see fantasy and imagination take to the canvas in ways never dreamed prior to this point in history. Pieces such as Jean-Antione Watteau's Pilgramage to Cythera, below, demonstrate the firvolity and sensuousness that defines Rococo, ultimately leading to the French Revolution.
Rococo occurred on the brink of monumental change, both socially and artistically. With the French and U.S. revolutions, the arts were about to go global in a way the Western world had never seen. At the same time, a new medium, using the latin term for light writing, was in its infancy and would soon dare to challenge artists who spent untold days working on a single image. Once again, the creation of the two-dimensional image would explore paths that would impact every form of society it touched.
Even at the length this portion has gone, the contributions of art to photography by the periods mentioned here have only been given the most brief of introductions. Photographers do well to spend long hours in study, taking up residence in museums and galleries and libraries so as to observe the depth of the contributions made before us.
Photographers are not creators of new imagery. We merely refine through the filter of a new medium.
1. Honour, Hugh; Flemming, J. (2005). The Visual Arts: A History, Seventh ed., Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-193507-0.
2. Ornella Casazza, Masaccio and the Brancacci Chapel, (1990)
3. Peter Murray and Pier Luigi Vecchi, Piero della Francesca, (1967)
4. Slive, S. (1995). Dutch painting 1600-1800. Yale University Press Pelican history of art. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300064187
Why do we continue to duplicate the same framing, composition, and conceptualization as generations before us? Who established these rules we continue to follow? From where did the modern ideas of what makes a "good" image originate?
The answers lie nowhere within the short history of photography, but all the way back to the first person who smeared ground root juice across the rough surface of a cave wall. As was covered in the first part of this article, artistic imagery is as basic and elemental to the human condition as food and shelter. The creation and preservation of images is universal, found in every corner of the world inhabited by humans.
What began as crude, sometimes stick-figure drawings slowly developed and became increasingly complex. While direct parallels between photography and ancient art may be few, from the sixth century AD forward we can begin to see distinct patterns of style, composition, lighting, and conceptualization that remain as important to photography as they were to early painters.
Much of what remains from first millennium artists in the West has a decidedly religious tone. Whether this is due to religious zeal within the art community or the destruction of secular works by religious authority is more a matter of speculation than fact. What is certain is that by 200 AD early Christian artists were adapting Russian styles of painting and mosaics, and solidified much of the religious symbolism that still exists today. Examples of such symbolism include the dove, the fish, the lamb, the cross and the Good Shepherd. Much of the form and structure still found in stained glass windows was established during this period as well.1
It was not until the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that Medieval painters began actually signing their works and creating prolific works that have been preserved and are worthy of study. Consider the following pieces from that period:
In The Madonna of St. Francis by Italian painter Cenni di Pepo (Giovanni) Cimabue (c. 1240 — c. 1302) one may recognize a great deal of religious and mythological symbolism that seems almost standard, such as the halos and shape and design of the angel's wings (Victoria's Secret had to get the idea from somewhere). Photographers will note the position of the heads, with chins tilted downward and the broad side of the face toward the presumed light source, minimizing shadows. Shadows were considered symbolic of evil during this period, and therefore all but eliminated from Medieval paintings. Instead, figures were often outlined to separate the person from the background. One also notes the positions of the Madonna, child and St. Francis within the frame, creating a visual hierarchy that is still very applicable to photography composition.
Another strong example from this period is Adoration of the Magi by Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267 - January 8, 1337):
Again, one notices the absence of shadow, a flatness especially in the faces with only slight shading applied to give a sense of depth and define major features. Unfortunately, years of slow deterioration minimize the effect this painting would have had when it was fresh. We now see only the faintest hints of the blue in Mary's robe and other colors have severely faded and cracked. However, one again notices the posing, very deliberate and symbolic, as well as the positioning of elements (such as Joseph's subordinate place behind Mary and the child). Modern nativities still often duplicate this very scene.
Moving into the 15th century and Renaissance period, what stands out as the major contributions are the definition of true linear perspective and the concept of balance. While ratio, especially in regard to the proportion of human limbs, is still largely absent, concepts of perspective and balance established during this period remain critical for modern day photographers.
A strong example of both elements is Raphael's Marriage of the Virgin:
The lines establishing perspective between the gathering in the foreground and the structure in the background are immediately evident and quite strongly portrayed. One also notices balance in the placement of five figures on either side of the centralized clergy (a sixth figure vaguely appears on the right side, but not enough to disturb the balance). Almost our entire sense of linear perspective and balance come from Renaissance art and even among the most abstract of modern pieces little has changed.2
The Renaissance brought us masters such as Michaelangelo and Da Vinci, and with them a very different sense of how space is represented on a two-dimensional surface. Where Giotto had used tonality to create form, Renaissance painters began to give more consideration to the placement of light. Now, we begin to see shadows. Pictures begin to represent multiple light sources coming from different directions.3
One of the most engaging examples, without submitting the obvious, is Botticelli's Venus and Mars:
This painting completed in 1483 demonstrates practically all the elements that make the Renaissance so unique from perspective and balance, to portrayal of light and emotion. The image contains everything one would look for in a good contemporary photograph, yet it pre-dates modern photography by over 600 years!
A secondary but unquestionably important matter to consider is that the painters of the Renaissance were not limited to their work with a brush. Almost all the masters from this period studied heavily and were equally proficient in some aspect of science, mathematics and philosophy. Their work and understanding in those separate fields were critically important in the composition and style of the artwork they created. Therein lies a challenge for the modern photographer in that we too often limit ourselves to this one medium. To the extent we also devote some time to the study of the world around us, we improve our understanding and comprehension of exactly what one is photographing, resulting in infinitely more creative and unique images.
As time progresses into the 1600 and the Baroque period, the European center for painting shifted Northward to the Netherlands and the widely respected Flemish school. Artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, and Abraham Janssens. Three very important elements came from this period: Collaboration, specialization, and portraiture.
Collaboration is an element many photographers might regard as being inapplicable to their field. The Flemish painters, however, found that together they created much greater, more finely detailed work than they might on their own. For example, within an elaborate scene Frans Snyders might paint the animals, Jan Brueghel the Elder might paint the landscape and flowers, then Rubens would pain the figures. These artists understood that the sum of the whole was far greater than the individual parts could ever produce. While the concept may seem foreign to photographers, it may well be an avenue worth ardent pursuit.
Specialization was very much the order of the day, just as niche photography has been for the past thirty years. During this period, work broke out into specific fields such as architecture painting, landscape and seascape painting, animals and still life, and a very strong emphasis on flower and garland painting.
Bouquet by Jan Brueghel the Elder.This specialization led not only to some of the most enduring masterpieces, but to an emphasis on accuracy and realism. Across the various specialization there was a desire to depict life as it actually exists, whether through the expressive peasant portraits, such as the painting below by Adriaen Brouwer, or large moralistic scenes such as Jacob Jordaen's The King Drinks (second image down, note the wiping of the bare baby's butt prominently placed in the foreground).
Portraiture reached popularity of previously unknown proportion during this period and even painters such as Rubens, who was not predominantly a portrait artist, were frequently pressed into duty capturing the likeness of friends and family. Many of the poses that were established during this period are still considered standard and quite common among contemporary portrait photographers.4
Finally, for this article at least, we consider the Rococo movement among French painters of the 18th century. No, this doesn't have anything to do with chocolate. The word is a combination of the French word for shell, rocaille, and the Italian word for Baroque style, barocco. Here, the emphasis shift to ornamentation. Suddenly, as though by some form of magic, there are cherubs EVERYWHERE! Delicate colors, curving [shell-like) forms, and a strong departure away from religious themes quite literally turned the art world, and French society in general, on its ear. This has never set well with the Roman Catholic church which was a dominant political force in France at the time. The Catholic Encyclopedia states of Rococo that, "its obtrusive artificiality, unnaturalness, and triviality have a distracting effect"
Here one can see fantasy and imagination take to the canvas in ways never dreamed prior to this point in history. Pieces such as Jean-Antione Watteau's Pilgramage to Cythera, below, demonstrate the firvolity and sensuousness that defines Rococo, ultimately leading to the French Revolution.
Rococo occurred on the brink of monumental change, both socially and artistically. With the French and U.S. revolutions, the arts were about to go global in a way the Western world had never seen. At the same time, a new medium, using the latin term for light writing, was in its infancy and would soon dare to challenge artists who spent untold days working on a single image. Once again, the creation of the two-dimensional image would explore paths that would impact every form of society it touched.
Even at the length this portion has gone, the contributions of art to photography by the periods mentioned here have only been given the most brief of introductions. Photographers do well to spend long hours in study, taking up residence in museums and galleries and libraries so as to observe the depth of the contributions made before us.
Photographers are not creators of new imagery. We merely refine through the filter of a new medium.
1. Honour, Hugh; Flemming, J. (2005). The Visual Arts: A History, Seventh ed., Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-193507-0.
2. Ornella Casazza, Masaccio and the Brancacci Chapel, (1990)
3. Peter Murray and Pier Luigi Vecchi, Piero della Francesca, (1967)
4. Slive, S. (1995). Dutch painting 1600-1800. Yale University Press Pelican history of art. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300064187
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