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Abstraction has been an important part of art since the Impressionists appeared in the mid 1800′s. It began in Paris as a loose group of artists who wanted to break free from the realism of classical painting. These included artists like Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne, and Camille Pissarro. This group set out to break the rules of classical painting where realism and accurate rendering were the highest achievement. They broke with tradition by using color and design for expression and not just duplicating the natural world. Their brush strokes became bold, short, and visible. They also began to paint outside of their studios, en plein air, on location. This allowed them to capture the subtle nature of sunlight. Their paintings became about expressing their feelings and were a new way of seeing the world. This group began to question what art really was and how it should be defined. I spoke about this in my recent post ‘Photography and What is Art?‘.
One of the elements that is attributed to the rise of Impressionism in art is the creation of photography. Before the invention of photography in 1839 the only way to record the world was through classical art forms like drawing and painting. When photography came along it’s main purpose was to reproduce the natural world accurately and ‘easily’. Many painters thought that photography was going to be the death of them and many rebelled against the new medium. But instead of killing off artistic painting, photography actually liberated these artists. Now they were free to express themselves in their art instead of just having to produce realistic pieces. So photography directly lead to the Impressionist movement. Later in 1890, when photography was trying to be accepted as an art form, just like the Impressionist were doing in the 1860-1870′s, photography borrowed the Impressionist look in the form of Pictorialism (see ‘We Will Always Have Paris‘). So the two art media feed off of each other and laid the groundwork for future art movements.
The Abstract art movement grew out of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists in the late 19th and early 20th century. Abstract art is a movement where form, line, and design can exist independent from the reality of the subject. Jonathan Steele had this to say about photographic abstraction, “…photographic art that is not representational of real objects in the natural world. By taking the essence of the photo or a portion of the photo and by using color and or the form in an aesthetic arrangement or combination, the photographic abstraction becomes art.” As the movement grew in the 20th century many fine abstract photographers emerged including Man Ray, Ernst Haas, and Aaron Siskind . Abstraction remains a large component of photography and other arts today. My work has been greatly influenced by Impressionism and Pictorialism.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
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[...] The age old question of ‘What is Beauty’ has launched thousands of discussions and heated debates, and not just in the arts. The ancient Greeks set down the current definition of Beauty as it relates to aesthetics. They spoke of symmetry, balance, and design that made a person, an animal or an object pleasurable to the viewer. This is the idea of innate beauty. Think about a beautiful sunset or the shape of a tree. It is easier to see this aspect of Beauty in things other than people. With people there are other frames of reference involved. The aesthetic concept has always been difficult to separate from the societal concepts of beauty. Hence the saying “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” This saying is believed to have originated in Ancient Greece during the 3rd century BC. In this case they are not referring to innate Beauty but rather to the idea of subjective beauty. This comes up a great deal when you are speaking about art. One of the areas that I am very interested in is what I call ‘the subjective response of the viewer.’ This is how a person reacts when they see and experience some artwork. Now that does not mean that a piece of art has to be deemed ‘good’, or ‘pretty’ to be effective. Many people define ‘good art’ as a work that moves the viewer somehow, makes them react, whether it is positive or negative. Alfred Stieglitz, the great American photographer and art patron, was the first to show Van Gogh’s work in America. When this work was shown in Europe many people were sickened, literally sick to their stomachs, after viewing the work. Now that is what I call a visceral reaction. But today Van Gogh’s works sell for many millions of dollars. So what has changed. People, society, frame of reference, have all changed. That is a subjective area. I don’t think that the ancient Greeks would have liked modern art. It cuts against their definition of Beauty. Their definition of Beauty is a very formalistic one. I have spoken before about the idea of Formalism in ‘Photography Movements – Formalism‘ and in several other posts. This comes up a lot here on the blog. But the Greek’s definition is very based on design, line, form, and composition. Even though modern art has these elements, they are not as easy for the average viewer to follow. So many people have looked at more modern forms of art, beginning with the art movements of the 1920′s, like Surrealism and Dadaism, and they don’t get it. Because they are looking at art as just a visual medium and not seeing that there is something deeper there; an expression, a message, a feeling. You can read more about abstract art in ‘Photography Movement – Abstraction.’ [...]