Mailing 2: Pictorialism - a pluralistic environment wilson hurst ““In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.” - Alfred Stieglitz The Photographic Fix Work from the “Floating Elements” project, anti-copyright wilsonhurst © 2011 Ever since the first photographic images were fixed on a substrate, the question of legitimacy has been debated. This takes two forms. The first considers the scientific and mechanical aspects of photography and postulates these characteristics negate any claim to art. The second consideration attempts to define photographic purity and condemns any process not adhering to this strict designation. Pictorial photographers operating at the dawn of the twentieth century recognized logical problems associated with compartmentalizing “drawing with light” operations. Exactly how one worker can establish a distinction between photographic and non-photographic processes is complicated and arbitrary. The doctrine that the end justifies the means seems to be most applicable. The artist is free to define his own limits. The “Floating Element” project directly addresses reflexive questions about the nature of photography. My primary goal is to critically consider photogenic appearance, while moving my creative efforts specifically towards the disaffected dimension. Photography physically functions as an optical mediator of reality. This intermediary link has positioned the medium uniquely both culturally and historically as an unbiased purveyor of truth. Sharp detail delineation of refracted converging radiation is one defining characteristic. As a way to explore demarcation, the subject of these new images is optics itself. Here, I am literally focusing on the unfocused. Yet the surface of the floating element is sharply defined, hovering in a smooth abstract field of amorphous color, absolutely dependent on optics for its creation. Referencing optical refractive lens construction, on-axis geometry is critical. Initially, I thought that all images in the “Floating Element” series should therefore place the objective dead center. However, on further reflection, I decided to approach the work in a distinctly lyrical and poetic fashion, and allow the lens element more space to float. “Floating element lens groups move independently in relation to others providing a higher level of correction at all distances.” - Nikon What is a photograph suppose to look like anyway? The operative word here is look, which therefore posits the experience in absolute terms to a radiant energy function. This requirement defines the perimeter margin. Within any delimited arrangement, there are infinite gradations of differentiation that establish the functioning creative field. Working with reality to place inherent camera characteristics into a “pure straight image,” I exploit concepts of optical theory. Transforming the linear discourse into tangible surfaces, the floating element definition is legitimized by the presence of dust particles and other surface manifestations. A whole series of complex symbolic encodes are available. The effectiveness of any specific “Floating Element” image remains inexplicable, but with engagement experience, the variety of iterations within the field becomes increasingly clear. Settling on the Olympus 50mm f3.5 macro lens as the preferential capture optic, I am still shooting a variety of different hovering lens elements positioned within the abstract color field environment. This multi-leveled exploration of focus interrogates the essential delineation issue intrinsic to photographic expression. I believe the history of art provides ample evidence that aesthetic expression and appreciation are not explicit. Rather they depend on individual taste and preference, as governed by the general mental development of both the artist and audience, necessarily dynamic over time. No two human minds are precisely alike, and as the Pictorialist photographer, Paul L. Anderson said about his work in 1919: “This work will have a certain effect on those minds which resemble my own sufficiently to receive from external objects the same impressions that I do, or impressions similar to mine.” An important aspect of creative intent is to work beyond conventions. The ultimate goal is to create new work that does not simply rehash the past, but rather breaks new ground. It seems rather obvious this cannot be achieved without comprehensive knowledge of the archive. Of course, as the archive expands, the difficulty of operating outside its content containment boundary becomes increasingly arduous. There is no universal or standard definition of art; but narrowed down art must be measured as a synthetic abstract concept. The archive seems to indicate that since the inception of human existence, man has engaged in aesthetic concerns. Thus, this aspect of life functioning is powerful and essential, resident in the core of our spirit. Bunnell, Peter C. A Photographic Vision: Pictorial Photography, 1889- 1923. Santa Barbara: P. Smith, 1980. Print. This work is a compilation of historical essays about Pictorialism and offers a wide-ranging examination of the movement as debated during its development and reign. Initiated at the end of the nineteenth century as a conceptual approach to photography, the pictorial goal was to differentiate products derived from an optical machine as interpretive rather than mere topological records. Central to this issue are the perceived polemic relationships of science versus art and automation versus human intervention. By the beginning of the 20th century, photographers functioned in a multifaceted environment of thoughts and activities. In fact, photography is constantly evolving towards increased diversity in method and intent. Although the result is an extensive multiplicity of images and concerns, many believe that all photographs are similar and originate from analogous motivations. This view, still widespread today, is a fabrication. Another inaccuracy, perpetuated mainly by critics rather than practitioners, is the derisive analysis that the primary intent of Pictorialism was to imitate works of art in other media. A more accurate understanding places their concern with aesthetics and emotional image impact. Early practicing proponents realized that a photograph could be more than a record. “A picture functions in the realization of interpretation and reflects its creator more than its subject. A picture has meaning central to human experience.” Strategies in this effort involved subject matter selection and creative use of all available photographic manipulations. These manipulations included hand actuated tonal shifts, coating photographic sensitive emulsions on different substrates, and exploiting diverse actinic chemistries each with unique characteristics. The results moved photography away from the documentary record, which deploys still significant, but fewer manipulations. The concept of the beautiful is another important issue addressed by Pictorialism. For guidance, they turned to the archive and considered aesthetics in terms successful in other existing activities. Approached as artistic photography, Pictorialism functioned within current art styles, such as impressionism, and these styles are thus reflected in their work. To this interest the Pictorialists added the model of naturalism. Since photography responds to external energy patterns, nature became synonymous with truth. This implied a close observation of natural appearances, as interpreted by an individual exercising good taste. A new vocabulary and a rising standard of cultivation became a photographic constituent. Like all art movements that reject the past, Pictorialism opposed all preceding photography modalities. As the movement advanced, the goal was not to refine ideas or conventions presently held, but to enlighten them in ways previously unconsidered. Photographers came to believe that contemporary life could be a personal exploration. Accepting responsibility for philosophical and aesthetic intent, the Pictoralists held it possible to reshape the vision of culture. The following are critical annotations from relevant essay selections from the text, exploring “A Photographic Vision.” P. H. Emerson 1889 Science and Art The two disciplines of science and art must be understood as distinct opposites. Art appeals to emotion, eliciting an emotional response. Science appeals to intellect, adding to knowledge. Extreme detail in photography thus is scientific, nothing more than a topographical record devoid of all artistic qualities. Photographic art, on the other hand, is the selection, arrangement, and recording of certain facts with the goal of giving aesthetic pleasure. “We cannot record too many facts in Science: the fewer facts we record in Art, and yet express the subject so that it cannot be better expressed, the better.” George Davison 1891 Impressionism in Photography This age of scientific inquiry affects every branch of knowledge, including art. The impressionist painters moved in this direction by abandoning all previous artistic conventions and consulting only their impressions of natural scenes. The naturalistic school is concerned with light, color, and atmosphere in the manner seen by the eye. Photography can express our impressions of natural scenes as well as any other media. Minute definition of detail may be one distinctive quality of photography, but is not the distinctive characteristic of seeing. Alfred Stieglitz 1892 A Plea for Art Photography in