Julia Margaret Cameron
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| - | '''Fine art photography''', sometimes simply called '''art photography''', refers to high-quality archival [[Photography|photographic]] prints of pictures that are created to fulfill the creative vision of an individual professional. Such prints are reproduced, usually in [[Special edition|limited edition]]s, in order to be sold to dealers, collectors or [[curator]]s, rather than mass reproduced in [[advertising]] or [[magazine]]s. Prints will sometimes, but not always, be exhibited in an art gallery. | ||
| - | ==19th Century history== | ||
| - | Successful attempts to make self-consciously "art" photography can be traced to [[Victorian era]] practitioners such as [[Julia Margaret Cameron]], [[Charles Lutwidge Dodgson]], and [[Oscar Gustave Rejlander]] among others. | + | '''Julia Margaret Cameron''' ([[June 11]] [[1815]] – [[January 26]] [[1879]]) was a [[British photographer]]. She became known for her [[portrait]]s of celebrities of the time, and for [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] and similar legendary themed pictures. |
| + | ==Legacy== | ||
| + | Cameron's niece Julia Prinsep Stephen (née Jackson; 1846–1895) wrote the biography of Cameron, which appeared in the first edition of the ''Dictionary of National Biography'', 1886. Julia Stephen was the mother of [[Virginia Woolf]], who wrote a comic portrayal of the "Freshwater circle" in her only play ''Freshwater''. Woolf edited, with [[Roger Fry]], a collection of Cameron's photographs. | ||
| - | ==20th Century history== | + | However, it was not until 1948 that her photography became more widely known when [[Helmut Gernsheim]] wrote a book on her work. In 1977 Gernsheim noted that although a great photographer, Cameron had "left no mark" on the aesthetic history of Photography because her work was not appreciated by her contemporaries and thus not imitated. But this situation was evidently already changing by then thanks to his popularisation of her work, for instance in 1975 [[Imogen Cunningham]] had commented "I'd like to see portrait photography go right back to Julia Margaret Cameron. I don't think there's anyone better." |
| + | ==Fancy portraits== | ||
| - | [[Pictorialism]] was a popular movement in the early years of the twentieth century, that strove to make the photograph as much like a painting as possible. It produced little that is now deemed of lasting value in the art world, and its styles and approaches are now seen as outmoded. | + | The basic techniques of [[soft-focus]] "[[fancy portrait]]s", which she later developed, were taught to her by [[David Wilkie Wynfield]]. She later wrote that "to my feeling about his beautiful photography I owed all my attempts and indeed consequently all my success". |
| - | During the twentieth century, art photography became accepted by the English-speaking art world and the gallery system. In the [[USA]], a small handful of curators spent their lives struggling to put it there; [[Alfred Stieglitz]], [[Edward Steichen]] and [[John Szarkowski]], and [[Hugh Edwards]]. | ||
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| - | Since the [[1970s]], many galleries have accepted that the best of documentary photography and [[photojournalism]] is worthy of being shown in the gallery situation alongside art photography. From around 1975 many new galleries were opened to show only photography. These too, generally, were happy to show both fine-art and documentary pictures. | ||
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| - | Traditionally, until the late [[1970s]] [[genre]] styles predominated; nudes, portraits, natural landscapes (exemplified by [[Ansel Adams]]). Breakthrough 'star' artists in the 1970s and 80s, such as [[Sally Mann]] and [[Robert Mapplethorpe]], still leant heavily on such genres, although seeing them with fresh eyes. Others investigated a [[snapshot aesthetic]] approach. | ||
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| - | Throughout the [[twentieth century]], there was a noticeable increase in the size of prints. Small delicate prints in thin frames are now a rarity, and hi-gloss wall-sized prints are common. There is now a tendency to dispense with a frame and glass altogether and instead to print onto blocked canvas. | ||
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| - | Color photography is now preferred over black & white, and its validation was strongly aided by curator [[John Szarkowski]]. Historians generally point to the Szarkowski-curated [[William Eggleston]] show at [[Museum of Modern Art|MoMA]] in [[1976]] as the "breakthrough of color". In [[England]], the early work of [[Gilbert & George]] is cited as validating color in art photography. | ||
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| - | American organizations, such as the [[Aperture (magazine)|Aperture Foundation]] and the [[Museum of Modern Art]], have done much to keep photography at the forefront of the fine arts. | ||
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| - | ==Current trends== | ||
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| - | There is now a trend toward a careful staging and lighting of the picture, rather than hoping to "discover" it ready-made. Photographers such as [[Cindy Sherman]] and [[Gregory Crewdson]], among others, are noted for the quality of their [[Tableaux Vivant|staged]] pictures. | ||
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| - | [[Medium format (film)|Medium-format]] and [[view camera|large-format]] cameras have been preferred by art photographers over [[35mm]] but, with the rapid improvements in the high-end of [[digital photography]], this is now changing. | ||
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| - | Since the [[1990s]] there have been some internal art-world tensions between fine art photographers and what might be termed [[Snapshot aesthetic|"artists with cameras"]]. | ||
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| - | With the advent of [[digital photography]] and [[Photoshop]], [[Photomontage|montage]] art photography has once again become popular; it is notably seen in the work of artists such as [[John Goto]] and [[Anyes Galleani]]. Purely computer-generated [[digital art]] ([[fractals]], etc) is usually clearly distinguished from fine-art photography. | ||
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| - | No concerted attempt has been made to popularize fine art photography, beyond the limited market for book reproductions. It is generally considered that one has to have an 'educated eye' to really appreciate fine art photography. Since art photography is simply not on the agenda of schools and educationalists, the chance of developing a popular mass market remains limited. Numerous online "web magazines" have appeared since [[1995]], offering a new form of outlet for viewing fine art photography, but even this remain a niche and sales figures remain poor. Attempts by online art retailers to sell photography alongside prints of paintings have had mixed results, with strong sales coming only from the traditional "big names" of photography such as [[Ansel Adams]]. | ||
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| - | According to [http://press.artprice.com/pdf/Trends2004.pdf ''Art Market Trends 2004''] (PDF link) 7,000 photographs were sold in auction rooms in 2004, and photographs averaged a 7.6 [[percent]] annual price rise from 1994 and 2004. Around 80 percent were sold in the [[USA]]. Of course, auction sales only record a fraction of total private sales. | ||
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| - | As printing technologies have improved since around [[1980]], a photographer's art prints reproduced in a finely-printed limited-edition book have now become an area of strong interest to collectors. This is because books usually have high production values, a short print run, and their limited market means they are almost never reprinted. The collector's market in photography books by individual photographers is developing rapidly. | ||
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| - | The prestige of the label 'art photography' has led many to try to apply the label to a host of inferior products - such as [[calendar]]s and cheap [[posters]]. | ||
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Julia Margaret Cameron (June 11 1815 – January 26 1879) was a British photographer. She became known for her portraits of celebrities of the time, and for Arthurian and similar legendary themed pictures.
[edit]
Legacy
Cameron's niece Julia Prinsep Stephen (née Jackson; 1846–1895) wrote the biography of Cameron, which appeared in the first edition of the Dictionary of National Biography, 1886. Julia Stephen was the mother of Virginia Woolf, who wrote a comic portrayal of the "Freshwater circle" in her only play Freshwater. Woolf edited, with Roger Fry, a collection of Cameron's photographs.
However, it was not until 1948 that her photography became more widely known when Helmut Gernsheim wrote a book on her work. In 1977 Gernsheim noted that although a great photographer, Cameron had "left no mark" on the aesthetic history of Photography because her work was not appreciated by her contemporaries and thus not imitated. But this situation was evidently already changing by then thanks to his popularisation of her work, for instance in 1975 Imogen Cunningham had commented "I'd like to see portrait photography go right back to Julia Margaret Cameron. I don't think there's anyone better."
[edit]
Fancy portraits
The basic techniques of soft-focus "fancy portraits", which she later developed, were taught to her by David Wilkie Wynfield. She later wrote that "to my feeling about his beautiful photography I owed all my attempts and indeed consequently all my success".
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Julia Margaret Cameron" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
