Art movements

[Siilver]

I'm doing hnd photography, and at the mo we are doing portraits
But for the work book we have to look at art movements over the years and link them to our final photographs

We had to get a book by Stephen lyttle called isms... But iv had a look at it and can't see what I'm meant to be looking for

So how do I do some background work linking the art movements and my work together


Any help would be great

 

[Musicman]

I'm not quite sure which way round you're supposed to be doing this - retro-fitting your portraits to an 'ism' or using an Art movement as inspiration for your photographic approach (I suspect the latter ) but two obvious historical candidates come to mind where photography played a part in a wider art movement to give you a starting point.

Man Ray's photography as part of the Surrealist movement.

and Andy Warhol's silk screen prints of photographs of a number of celebrities (most notably Marilyn Monroe). He is usually identified with Pop Art.

A number of Pop Artists made extensive use of collage (e.g.Richard Hamilton) which might give you another approach.

You might also take a look at the work of the Futurist photographer Anton Giulio Bragaglia whose 'Photodynamic' pictures parallel the work in other media by other Futurist artists such as Umberto Boccioni.

The key to the exercise would be to understand the principles of an art movement and figure out how to incorporate them into your photography.

 

[Vic]

We had to do something similar for our HND, but for our Fashion unit.

Rob has pretty much answered the question. It's aimed to give you more inspiration in art rather than other photographers. In addition to Rob's suggestions you could also go more subtle: Monet's soft light and lovely tones or Peit Mondrian's stuff is great for graphic photographs heavy in bold colours. And finally a lot of people in my classes used Magritte as an influence.

It's a great exercise and it doesnt have to be in-your-face obvious who you have taken inspiration from.

 

[meehaja]

Or take it further back, and consider the big romantic paintings, full of religious and historical iconography (sorry, can't remember the exact movement name, was it renaissance?). Then take a portrait with a halo, dog at feet, clutching a cross etc?

 

[Siilver]

right i think i know what you mean
i think i have to do the latter as Musicman say's

so do you think i can look for, photographs or can it be paints and whatever else you know

thanks for the help

 

[Critical I]

right i think i know what you mean
i think i have to do the latter as Musicman say's

so do you think i can look for, photographs or can it be paints and whatever else you know

thanks for the help

Portraits you say? The "isms" start where classical art ends.

In terms specifically relating to portraiture you could look at

Realism and John Singer Sargent
Romanticism and Goya
Impressionism and Renoir/Degas
Neo-impressionism and Gaugin
Fauvism and Matisse
Cubism and Picasso
Art Nouveau and Kilmt/Lautrec
Constructivism and Rodchenko (photography)
Surrealism and Bacon/Dali
Dadaism and Man Ray/Schwitters (photography)
Pop Art and Hockney/Warhol

Elements include subject, style, colour, perspective, relationships and movement. How you relate those to your portfolio is another challenge, but I guess that depends on which elements you select from the above to influence your choice of subject, setting and presentation.

 

[Musicman]

I had to do a similar exercise at the beginning of my second year studying architecture - pick an architect of note, spend a week studying the principles behind their design philosophy and then spend the next week designing a pavilion using those principles.

Initially I wanted to use Hans Scharoun, but I got allocated the Arts & Crafts architect William Lethaby by my tutor (on the basis that nobody had chosen him and he was too important to ignore).

At the end of my week of studying Lethaby's written work, which is concerned with honesty, truth and not aping historical examples, I concluded that to attempt to design a building in the style of William Lethaby would set up a paradox, contradicting the very principles I was supposed to be following.

Instead of submitting a design, I wrote an essay explaining why I couldn't complete the assignment.

That caused much consternation in the marking session. Fortunately the Professor of Design thought it was a brilliant master stroke and I won out with some good marks