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'An aphorism, properly stamped and molded, has not been "deciphered" when it has simply been read; rather one has then to begin its interpretation, for which is required an art of interpretation.' -- Nietzsche, 'On the Genealogy of Morals'

painting + photography as two modes of representation « Previous | |Next »
July 1, 2012

In the first chapter of their Photography Theory in Historical Perspective entitled Representation in Photography The Competition with Painting Hilde Van Gelder and Helen W. Westgeest explore the measure to which photography and painting are capable of representing reality and the differences in character and origin of the two modes of representation.

As is well known soon after its invention, photography was employed to record facts – which were often, but not always, facts of historical value. It was argued ---eg., by André Bazin--that photographs offered immediacy and transparency of depiction in a way that traditional artistic forms of representation such as sculpture, painting, and the graphic arts could not possibly achieve. This argument has been put forward to underscore the supposedly essential differences between paintings and photographs and, subsequently, to identify photography as “a different kind of art” --most notably by John Szarkowski.

Photography, on this account should define its own medium-specific identity in contrast to painting. Szarkowski championed the modernist idea of formalist art photography’s medium specificity in technical terms.

They say that Szarkowski distinguishes five phenomena he considers unique to photography: The Thing Itself, The Detail, The Frame, Time, and Vantage Point – and this list is not meant to be exhaustive.

Photographers, Szarkwoski argues, can only record reality as they encounter it. The photograph reflects a fragment of reality, and does not explain it. Rather than being a story, it only offers scattered and suggestive clues of what was once there. The photograph is unable to assemble these clues into a coherent narrative, he continues. It somehow tells of reality itself, so to speak, while simultaneously re-presenting it to us.

This stands in contrast to Greenberg who stated that photography's specificity lies in the fact that it is a narrative practice, that photography is a “technology plus narrative”.

| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 11:12 PM |