Module 7 - Photography and Sculpting

Photography:

Decisive Moment - Henri Cartier Bresson

Henri Cartier Bresson’s interest in photography began as a young boy. He was known to take family photographs with his Box Brownie camera. He was also introduced to oil painting at a young age, by his Uncle Louis who died in World War I. He was 19 at the time of his uncle’s death in 1927. In 1931 Henri Cartier Bresson was inspired by the surrealist photo journalists of the time and used photograph as his medium of choice. This lead to his enlistment in the French Army in WW II as a Corporal in the Film and Photo unit, where he was captured by the Germans in 1940 and sent to a Nazi run work camp. In 1947 rumors of his death hit America and a retrospective was planned to display his footage of war refugees. The retrospective led to the formation of Magnum Photos in 1947, founded by Robert Capa. The mission to “feel the pulse” of people everywhere, at Magnum photos, led to photo journalistic assignments all over the world. After covering Gandhi’s funeral, the Chineese Civil War, and the independence of the Dutch in the East Indies, Henri Cartier Bresson published his book The Decisive Moment in 1952. The cover was done by Henri Matisse. The concept of the book being that photography captures an “instant in life” in its completeness and full glory. Once the moment is passed; it is lost forever. To capture the decisive moment Henri Cartier Bresson was known to paint his camera black, a way of camouflage, so as not to alert the subject. He didn’t want quirkiness associated with unnatural posing for the camera. Later in life in 1968 he put down his camera and returned to painting. He remarked that “photography … was a way into painting, a sort of instant drawing.” The “instant drawing” is the subject that is worthy of an artist’s attention.
The picture below is an example of the decisive moment where a string art sculptor is engrossed in his work and oblivious to the camera. This creates a natural scene that captures an instant in the life of the sculptor.

US Sculptor, Naum GABO
Henri Cartier Bresson
Photograph
Magnum Photos

Instant Collage - Walker Evans

Walker Evans began his career in photography in 1930 when he published three photographs of the Brooklyn Bridge for a Hart Crane poetry book. The year after he took a series of photos for Lincoln Kirstein of the Victorian houses found in Boston, MA. In 1932 he went on assignment in Cuba to take photos for a book by Carelton Beals, where he also met Ernest Hemmingway. He first began working for the American government Resettlement Administration in 1935 and then the Farm Security Administration in 1936 where he was commissioned to photograph the Great Depression’s impoverished. In the same year he did a piece for “Fortune” magazine on Hale County, Alabama, which depicted the residents there as poor and ignorant. His first exhibition was in 1938 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Once in New York, he began to take pictures of the subway from a camera hidden in his coat. Later in his career he wrote for “Time” and was a publisher for “Fortune.”
His eye as a photographer focused on the decisive moment, to create a naturally occurring collage of objects in the subject of his photos. As seen in this photo, he instinctively notices the instant where the most information can be extracted from the scene presented. 

Coal Miner's House
Walker Evans
gelatin silver contact print, 24.2 x 19.1 cm
George Eastman House

Manipulated Photography - Jerry Uelsmann

Jerry Uelsmann became interested in photography at the age of 14. He received two degrees, a B.S. from the Rochester Institute of Technology and Masters of Fine Arts from Indiana University. Afterwards, he began teaching at the University of Florida in 1960. His first solo exhibition was in 1967 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Prior to his exhibition, photographs were viewed as documentary that was unable to be falsified. His unique ability to manipulate photographic images was sheer magic. A number of his photos were used on the classic TV show “The Outer Limits” for the opening credits. Stephen King used his photographs in the book “Salem’s Lot” and the rock band Dream Theater used his work on the cover of their “Train of Thought” album.  The photo here is an example of his ability to manipulate the exposure of the photographs he took. The flower garden and courtyard are superimposed over the clouds and sky in the background. The woman appears to be floating in midair. This all would be very simple to accomplish with Photoshop in today’s digital studio, but this was done before the invention of digital imaging. The shadow of the woman on the ground is quite perplexing and is a marvel to accomplish, considering the analog tools were all the artist had to work with.

Untitled
Jerry Uelsmann
photographs, 34.3 x 26.7 cm
George Eastman House

Sculpture:

Carving - Michelangelo

Michelangelo was a well-rounded artist. He was as comfortable with a brush as he was with a chisel. He had greater ability than any other in the creation of his sculpting. For this sculpting of Bacchus - the Roman God of Wine - his abilities were a detriment. The Cardinal Raffaele Riario commissioned Michelangelo to create a life sized sculpture for his garden. He wanted Michelangelo to depict Bacchus in a drunken state. Michelangelo did this so well, by manipulating the face to a blank stare and off balance posture, that the Cardinal rejected the piece. It was ultimately bought by a banker, Jacopo Galli, for his garden.

BacchusMichelangelo

  

Drunken Bacchus
Michelangelo
sculpture
Italian and other European Art

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Modeling - Robert Arneson

Robert Arneson was an artist who earned his Master’s in Fine Arts in 1958 at California College of the Arts. He then went to work as a cartoonist, as did many of his contemporaries. In the 1960’s he abandoned formal notions of art and helped foster “Funk Art.” This was a style that used everyday items in a confrontational manner. One of his most confrontational pieces was done in 1978; it was the bust of assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. The caption “Bang Bang Bang Bang” and “Harvey Milk Too!” were posted on the front of the pedestal. A lot of his artwork used heads that resembled self-portraits of the artist himself. Each of the different heads had an almost cartoon like characteristic to them.  An example of one of his sculpting that uses an everyday object, such as an ordinary rotary phone. He creates a controversial aspect by embedding boobs into the piece and adorns it with a funky title - “Call Girl.” This piece is listed here. 

Call Girl
Albert Arneson
ceramic, metal, 46 cm high
University of California, San Diego

 

Earth Art - Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy is a former mathematics professor from the University of Leeds. He studied art at Bradford College, and Preston Polytechnic where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. He is also the focus of a documentary by Thomas Riedelsheimer called “Rivers and Tides” for his Earth Artwork. He also received 8 awards from 1979 to 2000 from the British art community. The example here displays the simple use of Yellow Elm leafs to cover a rock in a stream which changes the color of the rock, making it stand out from the surroundings. The rock almost looks like a huge chunk of gold resting in the middle of the stream.

Scaur Water, Yellow Elm leaves laid over a Rock
Andy Goldsworthy
Designed Landscapes
Foundation for Landscape Studies

Looking at Andy Goldsworthy’s Scaur Water earth art is not a very noticeable example of this form and medium. He is involved in a project to recreate and preserve a site in England where the more noticeable Earth Artwork called “Mud Man and Moss Maiden” reside.

Mud Man and Moss Maiden
Lost Gardens of Heligan
Earth Art
webecoist web site