[Leica] Re: Ansel Adams - Erwitt's statement

[leica at web-options.com (Bob W)]

Worth remembering, though, that in their time the pictorialists were
cutting-edge, and realistic. PH Emerson's photos are well worth looking at
from a documentary point of view. They were in revolt against the
establishment of the time and the practice of photographers such as Henry
Peach Robinson, who constructed their photographs, in much the same way that
some people do now with Photoshop. There's a very, very good book about PH
Emerson called The Old Order and The New which I can recommend very highly
for a reappraisal of Emerson, a great photographer.

http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/emerson/

The problem with pictorialism was that it went much the same way as the
rocks and logs school of f/64 with a mass of untalented people following
slavishly to the point where any originality or creativity was long gone and
all that came after was trite cliche.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

Bob

> 
> Very nicely articulated Peter; great context.
> The only piece you missed: Adams and Weston et al
> also worked (somewhat in harmony as the f:64 group)
> revolting against the pictorialist's romantic view
> of people, places and things; making them
> cutting edge and going against the current trends.
> 
> Fond regards,
> George
> 
> george@imagist.com
> http://www.imagist.com
> http://www.imagist.com/blog
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist
> 
> 
> 
> On Dec 23, 2008, at 3:22 PM, Peter Klein wrote:
> 
> > George, you're right, Erwitt's jab *is* ridiculously glib. Let's  
> > try to
> > put it in context.
> >
> > We have to remember that Adams was a generation older than 
> Erwitt.   
> > In the
> > 30s and 40s, both Adams' almost Wagnerian interpretation of the  
> > American
> > West and the level to which he quantified the process of  
> > photography were
> > relatively new and unique things. By the time Erwitt came of age,  
> > an Adams
> > landscape was an established norm that newer artists were reacting
> > against.
> >
> > The Zone System was just a codification of things Adams had worked  
> > out in
> > practice. His followers turned it into a One True Faith. Of course a
> > photographer like Erwitt would find that nonsense--by the time you  
> > could
> > think "N-1," the moments that most Erwitt images captured would be  
> > gone.
> > Plus, Erwitt wasn't interested in grand landscapes.  He was  
> > interested in
> > people, dogs, oddball moments and quirky juxtapositions.
> >
> > Lots of photographic trends become ridiculous at the hands of the
> > faithful. Remember the "I never crop" fetish of the HCB followers,  
> > which
> > included filing black border space into your negative carrier?   
> > Then we
> > found out that HCB did in fact crop.
> >
> > My own way of photographing is much more like Erwitt's than like  
> > Adams,
> > but I appreciate Adams, too.
> >
> > I had the good fortune to see an exhibit of Adams' prints (in Las  
> > Vegas,
> > no less!), along with some of his equipment and letters.  In his  
> > letters,
> > I found a man who was as much an emotional artist as the most  
> > unablashed
> > Romantic.  It's just that he developed a painstaking method that  
> > gave him
> > the best chance of capturing what he saw.
> >
> > Here's a good article placing Adams in perspective:
> > <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/ansel-adams-but- 
> > is-it-art-749574.html>
> >
> > I remember an article in the old "Camera 35", probably by David  
> > Vestal. He
> > had a dream where he was trying to photograph a subject with  
> > particularly
> > challenging dynamic range.  The Adams' ghost appeared to him and  
> > whispered
> > in his ear:  "Bracket."
> >
> > --Peter