The Photographic Image: New High Art of the Twentieth Century
Author
Barnes, Emily McHugh
Subject
Washington and Lee University -- Honors in Art History
Photography, Artistic
Photographic criticism
Metadata
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The production of the photograph, by exposing the negative film to light through the aperture of the camera can be qualified as the "art" of photography; mastering the "art" has everything to do with the process of creation. The "beauty" of the photographic image is determined by the person looking at it and that individual's preconceived notions, based on established theories, of what is attractive and pleasing to the eye. Verifying the "aesthetic" quality of the photograph becomes more complicated, because to do so one must draw from the deeper beliefs of one's idea of art as an important aspect of life. Stolnitz says: "we should study aesthetics with a sense of curiosity. We should try to maintain an interest in 'finding out' -- about art, about different theories of art and the sparks which they strike when they come into conflict with each other, about the relations of art to other areas of human experience .... " Photography's tangible connection with "human experience" was realized by both critics and artists, and the idea of what art was was indeed challenged by the evolution of the medium in the twentieth century. [From Introduction]