Of all artistic subjects, the landscape

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Of all artistic subjects, the landscape"

Norah Johnson
5 years ago
Views:

1 Of all artistic subjects, the landscape presents a perfect compass of photography s attributes. The mirror of nature shows us reality in all its glory, and through its pictures we can stop and applaud the ephemeral beauties of the world. In 1872, the painter, photographer and journalist William James Stillman argued that landscape brought photography closest to art: 163 I believe that it will be generally decided by the artistic world that the proper artistic side of photography is not the emulation of painting, but the record of facts, subject to the qualities of beauty which are contained in fortunate natural combinations of scenery, exquisite gradation, and effects of sun and shade, in what we may call the affidavits of nature to the facts on which art is based. 1 Such photographs were celebrated as pure, unmediated visions of the world, uncorrupted by art s calcified formulae. In 1863, the landscape photographer Lyndon Smith proclaimed the genre as a purgative to the effete and exploded High Art, and Classic systems of Sir Joshua Reynolds and the cold, heartless, infidel works of pagan Greece and Rome. 2 Here was a modern technology of drawing with light, as the Photographic Journal described it: This clear-sighted, deepseeing, sure-handed, steam-power spirit of the sun. 3 A brave new world, indeed. Fig. 117 Richard Billingham, Storm at Sea, 2002, from the series Landscapes. LightJet print mounted on aluminium, cm (framed). Courtesy Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London.

2 3 The divine ideal? Photographing the body

Below, fi g. 35 Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon), Sarah Bernhardt, about 1864. Later gelatin silver bromide glass plate negative, 27 21 cm. Médiathèque de l Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris.

1 Maud Sulter photographed each sitter as one of the muses of classical antiquity, and cast herself as Calliope, the muse of epic poetry (fig. 36).

3 Below, fi g. 35 Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon), Sarah Bernhardt, about Later gelatin silver bromide glass plate negative, cm. Médiathèque de l Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris. 58 In 1989, while the photographic community marked the 150th anniversary of photography s invention, a Scottish poet and artist made nine allegorical portraits of creative black women. 1 Maud Sulter photographed each sitter as one of the muses of classical antiquity, and cast herself as Calliope, the muse of epic poetry (fig. 36). A small cased photograph, probably a daguerreotype, represents Calliope s emblem, her writing tablet, for photography was Sulter s other medium of communication. Her pose and drapery were based on Nadar s mid-1860s portrait of the actress Sarah Bernhardt (fig. 35). The project was subversive: Zabat was the name of a traditional African dance exalting women s strength, and the Zabat photographs showed black women artists as a rejoinder to photography s 1989 anniversary, whose celebrants photographers, writers and academics were mostly male and all white. 2 Sulter s inspirations included seventeenthcentury portrait painting, such as Jan Lievens s portrait of the Dutch scholar, poet and artist Anna Maria van Schurman (fig. 37). Van Schurman is also portrayed with the emblems of her vocation: she holds a book, perhaps a compilation of her letters and poetry published the previous year. This portrait may well have been made to mark that achievement, just as Calliope marked the publication of Sulter s book of poetry also entitled Zabat. 3 Sulter felt that there were too few opportunities to commemorate women, writing of Calliope: If you re black and female the chance of one s poetry being attributed to one in later life is slim. 4 Opposite, fi g. 36 Maud Sulter, Calliope, 1989, from the series Zabat, Cibachrome, cm (framed). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Expression and memory: Portrait photographs

4 4 Studies of time and beauty Still-life photography

76 did Cameron, whose photographs were the basis of engravings for the 1875 edition. 28 She simultaneously produced her own photographically illustrated version.

But it is in Cameron s tondo portrait of Kate (fig. 52) that we fi nd the most resonant equivalent to Bird s photograph.

5 76 did Cameron, whose photographs were the basis of engravings for the 1875 edition. 28 She simultaneously produced her own photographically illustrated version. Portraiture and time Nicky Bird s portrait of her niece Jasmin (fig. 55) was inspired by Cameron s photograph of Kate Keown as the mythical sorceress Circe (fig. 54). But it is in Cameron s tondo portrait of Kate (fig. 52) that we fi nd the most resonant equivalent to Bird s photograph. These works show young sitters who struggle to stay still for an exposure that in Cameron s case took more than 15 seconds. Bird was photographing in a dimly lit room, so even her modern fi lm would need an exposure of a few seconds. In the duration of both photographs, Kate and Jasmin moved, and time intervened, making its presence felt in the blur that marks their movement. Blur is a technical issue (resulting from a long exposure) and a temporal one that speaks to Bird s process of photographing the face of her niece over a six-month period. The implied time is longer still, suggesting a shift from the nineteenth century forward; the portrait is part of a wider project in which Bird tracked the genealogies of Cameron s sitters. Despite her remarkable resemblance to Kate Keown, Jasmin is not a descendant, though her mother grew up in the West Wight, not far from Cameron s old home at Freshwater, both on the Isle of Wight. These photographs extend time; as the moment of taking the picture recedes into Above, fi g. 54 Julia Margaret Cameron, Circe (Kate Keown), Albumen print, cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Opposite, fi g. 55 Nicky Bird, Jasmin, Ryde, Isle of Wight, July 2000 January 2001, from the series Tracing Echoes, Colour Iris print, cm. Collection of the Artist. Expression and memory: Portrait photographs

The Magic of Portraits: Mrs. Nesbitt as Circe

Elementary The Magic of Portraits: Mrs. Nesbitt as Circe Overview Students will learn what a portrait is and explore all the ways a portrait can tell us something about its subject. Then students will