#e-journalassignment

David Campany discusses the relationship between art and commerce in this article and how photographers have become more experimental with the medium throughout the years. Beginning with the still life photograph- a genre which has always been considered to be inferior, Campany says commerce had its roots from the still life genre and this is evident through the advertisements we see printed on billboards, in catalogues that resemble the style of the earliest still life photographs, like Talbot’s fruit bowl for example. 

As the art form went on to develop its modern artistic influence, many well known photographers in the early twentieth century were most commonly reportage based, portraiture based or advertising using the still life genre. Other photographers, like Man Ray however claimed the medium could be an art, and photographers since then have experimented with medium. 

History and Theory, comment on the essential reading

This week the lecture of History and Theory module will be about Straight photography. The essential reading consists in a chapter from the book Trace and transfiguration; American criticism on photography in the modernist period.

HISTORY AND THEORY, comment on the essential reading

For the tomorrow lecture about Still Life Photography we have been given to read an article called “Out in the world”, published on Frieze and written by David Campany in 2011. The article talks about the role of still life in photography seen as image of contemplation, document and advertisement.

Thinking about painting, still-life was considered a low gender compare with portraiture, for example, even though artists were taught their job starting with still life. Objects can’t move by themselves and they can remain in the same position as long as you want, in this way you have the opportunity of studying them. It is not a coincidence that one of the most famous painting in the world is a “common” basket of fruits (Fiscella, Caravaggio, 1599).

After approximately three centuries and a half, a new artistic concept of still life was born thanks to DADA and Pop Art avant-garde. In the 1920s and 1950s the artists transformed the idea of an object as a tool to something more complex, something worth to be shown off in a museum; one of the aspects these art movements have in common is the importance they give to the contest.

The advertising world has been using the same ideology: to sell a product is essential making it more interesting than it really is, in order to do so, the object must be surrounded by other objects which support its meaning.

What I did well: 

“Very in depth analysis and description of the photograph.”

“Good structure when talking about the photo and interesting points made.”

“Text is organised and seems to flow paragraph to paragraph.” 

What needs improving: 

“Description and analysis of text needed.”

“Needs an argument or question being answered.”

“Referred to text but needs more analysis and relevance to the image.”

“Referencing needs to be in alphabetical order.” 

My assessor said I gave an in depth description & analysis of my chosen photograph but this lacked when I talked about the text, which looking back I completely agree with. I should have expanded on the relationship between the photograph and text because that was the main objective.