Photography and the Painted Image

Since I was unable to make it to any of the artists talks Danielle and I decided I would write about photography and the painted images, the difference, similarities, role in society, anything I can think about.

Looking back at why I wanted to recreate photos into paintings at the beginning of the semester, and how I feel about it now, has been quite the change. The way i view other artists who do this as well is completly different. Lets take Chuck Close as an example...

Chuck Cloes 'Big Self-Portrait' 1967-68

Look at this image above. It seems to be a black and white photograph of a man with scruffy hair, a moustache, glasses and a cigarette. Most of that is true apart from one key detail - it is a painting not a photograph. However, it is a painting based on a photograph and in some way comments on both painting and the photographic image.

Why spend countless hours painting an image like this when you could create a photograph instantly that looks the same?



Why doesn't most art today look like this and seems to lack the skill that this image would require?

To understand these question I went back to look at the very first photograph and how the invention of photography influenced the very nature of art.

One Summers day in 1826 Nicephore (Joseph) Niepce created the image above. This Grainy image above is thought to be the first permanent photograph and it had an exposure of over eight hours. It is too simple to say Niepce invented photography because the photographic process has undergone so many significant modifications since then.

The invention of a device that could allow anybody to record the world in perfect detail would revolutionize how we see ourselves, how we communicate and how we make art. Without Photography Modern art, film and the Internet would not exist; or at least not as we know them.

Another one of Niepce’s earliest images was of a table – a traditional still life. It is a time honored theme in Art that would still be revisited by future artists. During the 18^th century Chardin produced beautiful painted still lives of simple Kitchen Utensils. There is great poetry in Chardin’s ability to bring such importance to such humble things. Niepce was simply continuing a long tradition – what else would you do with a camera other than make images in the tradition of Painting?

Niepce’s image of the roofs outside his window seems to break away from the traditions of painting and point to something else. The image could be compared to a landscape painting but a painting had never been done of just roofs. There are harsh angles, strong contrast and an abstract nature to image that seems ‘Modern’ to my eye. It reminds me of a Supremacist painting by Malevich.

"We much expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amazing change in out very notion of art," Paul Valery 1928

Claude Monet 'Impression - Sunrise' 1872

The invention of photography was announced in 1839. The arrival of a machine that could capture the world in perfect detail - a landscape, a portrait or a building was in direct competition to painting. Painters started questioning how they approached their medium and the first obvious were with the Impressionists. In the painting above Claude Monet's brush marks become looser and more expressive. Color suggests the quality of light but might not be exactly what Monet saw. It is 33 years after the announcement of Photography and Monet is painting an image that could not be taken by a camera.

A photograph of a sunrise is created by light from the sun traveling and reflecting of object. This light then travels through the camera lens onto the light sensitive material. A photograph has a direct relationship to the subject.

A painting is made by matter being applied to a surface and creating areas of light and dark. The paint is applied by hand and is a subjective response by the artist to what they see.

Degas 'Dancers pink and green' 1890

It is 41 years since the announcement of photography. Traditionally paintings were set up like stage sets with the action being perfectly choreographed within the frame. Influenced by the photographic image, Degas has cropped the dancer on the right hand side of the frame as if it was poorly framed snap shot. Not only are the marks getting looser but the composition is changing.

Photography and painting have a relationship I was unaware of, or just had never thought much of before this class. It is a concept I am interesting in doing more research on and exploring even when I finish this class.