The Genius of Photography part 2

What are Typologies?

Typologies are a catalogue of images of the same theme. Typologies can be used to compare and contrast and see the differences in things that are in the same category. The first typology was by Anna Atkins and was the “Catalogue of Algi” and appeared 4 years after the medium invention. Another example of typologies was Karl Blossfeldts “art forms of nature” in which he would have two plants side by side so you could see the differences. They can be of anything as Bernd and Hilla Becher used water towers and Donavan Wylie used it with lighting towers. Then in the 1920’s in Germany August sander created human typologies. These could then be used by police as mug shots.

What was “The Face of the Times”?

Commercial portrait photographer August Sander used old fashioned glass plate negatives however in 1929 he said he was a modernist and published a selection of his portraits under the name of “the face of the times” in which he took people and fitted them in to the frame. The viewer is invited to see differences between the people and showed their jobs e.g. cooks, brick layers.

Which magazine did Rodchenko design?
Alexander Rodchenko turned from painting to photography as he thought it was a new ways of seeing he started using compact hand held cameras such as the leica. He thought it was easier to reject belly button photography which is taking everything waist level and you can make it obvious you are photographing the world differently by using different angles and perspectives. He designed the magazine “USSR in construction” which was a magazine which contained radical photographic style combined with cutting edge graphics. It also had a showcase of political propaganda. It was an interactive magazine with origami fold out style pages.

What is photo-montage?

The magazine shows photo-montage which is a Graphic technique that took its cue from cinema montage. Photomontage creates an image from several different images to create what they saw as dizzying visions of the future. It can create more of an impact than if it was just the one image. Taking the most important parts of several images and putting them all together creates something totally different.

Why did Eugene Atget use albumen prints in the 1920’s?

Eugene Atget spent 30 years documenting Paris as it was changing and had over 10,000 negatives. You can print albumen in the sunshine as there is no need for a darkroom. People tried to get him to use modern materials as they told him his images would last longer however he said he didn’t know how to do that, so that’s why Eugene Atget was using albumen prints in the 1920’s.

What is solarisation and how was it discovered?
Man Ray discovered solarisation inadvertently in late 1920s, it made people look as though their faces were made of aluminium and has a sleek and metallic look and makes them become super people it also looks slightly in human or robotic. It is an effect which can be created in the darkroom.

What was the relationship between Bernice Abbott and

Eugene Atget?
Man ray met Eugene Atget as they lived a street apart and he brought 50 of his images, surrealists were interested in found objects. Bernice Abbott, a young American photographer and one of Man Ray’s many assistants pictured Eugene Atget himself with his arcade equipments and techniques was a living breathing found object when she took his portrait in 1927 and she proffered the image of him in profile, as she made him look like an old poor photographer selling his images for nothing. She brought over 5000 of his negatives to America.

Why was Walker Evans fired from the FSA?

In 1935 Walker Evans was commissioned to produce propaganda images for the Farms securities agency set up to ease depression in the rural America. Walker Evans moulded reality to fit his personal vision. He couldn’t make the vision conform to the propaganda requirements of the FSA so in 1937 he was fired.