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What, if any impact did photography play in the role of arts evolution, in particular, what impact did photography have in the works of the impressionist painters. Two obviously conflicting opinions arise through texts by Aaron Scharf and Kirk Vanerdoe. Scharf argues that the impact of snapshot photography and the invention and wide distribution of portable cameras had a significant influence on the works of the painter Degas. Vanerdoe takes the opportunity to question what makes an influence significant, and tends to see the creation of Impressionism stem from earlier art movements. Then comes the question, what, if any arguments are valid, what arguments are opinions and what can be sieved down to fact. The truth of it all is that many of these opinions that are displayed can neither be proved nor disproved, and therefore any analysis must be taken with a grain of salt.
However it appears as though Vanerdoe has taken the less hospitable route, resulting at times to personal attacks, as well as blanket statements of which may not answer a question raised by Scharf, but rather simply a personal attack. It is in these statements we see a very passionate Vanerdoe, but also lose faith in his ability to keep together a reasoned and structured argument. Vanerdoe's beginning argument for example, this line of thinking however is inaccurate and misleading the basis for his essay, and way of thinking to come. It is from this we see Vanerdoe try and reason that, photographical influence isnt substantial enough, yet no attempt at defining substantial has been made, that therefore leads me to conclude that, substantiality in the case of Vanerdoe's essay must continue as a buzz-word.
I would asses the word substantial as the dictionary does Considerable in importance and therefore Vanerdoe considers that the photographic influence is not considerable in importance. What levels of significance then does photography play in the role of art work of Impressionism and in particular Degas? So one would then at this point, try and define, to ones self exactly what constitutes a substantial impact. I would put forward that a substantial impact would be one, which remnants are visible through the completed work. Substantiality would then be based on whether or not the aesthetic or meaning of the photograph still influences. Therefore I decree that substantiality can be undervalued, but not overvalued.
That would send me in the direction of Scharf's argument. To back this up Scharf argues that Degas was influenced by the snapshot photograph, this is in a way an aesthetic value, but moreover it is Degas trying to convey a meaning of convention. This meaning of convention is never truly assessed in regard to Degas work by Vanerdoe. His best attempt at rebutting this argument is that any decent photographer would not take such an outwardly strange composition, and that photography was not in fact a new invention, and even that photographs from this time are not widely available (a point he even disadvantages in his own foot notes). To address all of these points, Scharf talks about snapshot photography not professional camera work, no photography was not a new invention, but widely available photography was, and that photos from Degas era are not widely available; available in quantities in the 1960 s Vanerdoe. This would then seem to rebut any argument for the sake of playing upon photography's availability or usage.
In fact the information given by Vanerdoe from pages 103 through 105 actually never refer to the snapshot photograph, yet he still makes the assertion that this means among other things that a nineteenth century painting may share many characteristics with a photograph, without being the least bit influenced by photography; and therefore we should be vary wary of unjustly enlarging the claims made for photography's effect. It would probably be best at this time to asses whether or not a shroud statement such as impressionist, in reference to the argument of photographic influence can be made. Aaron Scharf's article Degas and the Instantaneous Image can be dumbed down to that, the argument that is made is indeed in reference to the work of Degas, rather than to impressionism as a whole, as degas work was obviously his own, and only generically applied itself to the impressionist movement... This however does not serve Vanerdoe well, much preferring to debate photographic influence on a much wider scale Impressionists in fact best exemplify the insufficiencies of attempting to explain photographic vision in terms of the influence of photographs, The impressionists paintings have been said to look like photographs, In significant ways that merit stressing, they do not. It is true though that Degas, of all impressionists, was known for working from photographs, were most of his colleagues were trying to keep that fact hidden.
This owes itself to Scharf's argument, but to overlook that Vanerdoe believes photos had some influence, just not a significant one at this point would be a rather large over sight. Which brings us around 360 Degrees. Vanerdoe knows that some impressionists studied photos, he admits that, but then the argument of substantiality would be raised, at this point the admission that photos are widely available, and used as points of reference would substantiate the fact that it is indeed a necessary influence upon their work, mostly so in the case of Degas. I therefore am led to the inclination that photographic reference played a substantial role in impacting upon Degas work. Shown on page 198 of Scharf's article, under the banner of Cutting off and cinematic progression we see a photograph from around Degas time, and we also see a Degas. To Scharf the similarities in composition are too close to not be considered influential.
Far from typical, and far from conventional the similarities between photo and painting can be seen. It would seem farcical to explain the similarities as simply a phenomenon, and seem ignorant to down play any impact upon painting. Vanerdoe however would try to assert the point that this style of photograph was merely a referential work, and even as farcical as saying these references were scarce, a point clearly rebutted in his own footnotes, as mentioned earlier. Cropping plays a huge role in the work of Degas; even at times the basis of the work would be considered the awkward cropping. As one assumes that this awkward cropping is a result of paintings answer to photography, this idea is not one shared by Vanerdoe, but indeed one shared by myself. But that assumption could not really be proven, nor disproved, so therefore remains a static argument.
What else then separates these two radically different views, one would have to question the advent of stop motion photography, and we see muscles in a stop frame at which the human eye would not catch other wise. Vanerdoe however says What did photographic pictures show painters that other pictures had not shown. The short answer little of any significance. I would however imagine that if, I was viewing something, for the first time, i.
e. : a REAL, person in a freeze frame situation, my perception upon the world would therefore have been changed. If up until that time, I had only viewed people in natural poses in paintings, or in walking poses in paintings, I would therefore assume what the camera was catching was more natural, and therefore the Impressionist movement (who aimed to capture fleeting moments) would be able to draw upon this fleeting moment in photography, to actually gain a truthful opinion of what the fleeting moment as an impressionistic freeze frame would be. This stop motion photography to my knowledge, is never really addressed by Vanerdoe, and therefore can offer no rebuttal for the impact this type of photography may have had. In essence, Vanerdoe makes many claims, as Does Scharf, but historically, and through derision of fact from fiction, it seems as though Scharf was headed in the right direction. For sure Photography had a substantial impact, as previous art movements may also have had an impact. Both of these are substantial impacts, and neither can be discounted I believe.
Though Photography's advances seem to play a huge role, more so than I see previous art movements. The Invention earlier of portable oil paints made people paint landscapes as they saw it, therefore one can assume the camera could influence painters to paint as the camera saw it. Therefore allowing for substantial impact. BIBLIOGRAPHY Perspectives on Photography: Collected Essays Which and Barrow University of New Mexico Press, 1986 The Artifice of Candor: Impressionism and Photography Reconsidered Kirk Vanerdoe Pages 99 - 123 Art and Photography Aaron Scharf Penguin 1974 Pages 180 - 209 Notes Aaron Scharf's influential survey Art and Photography, have encouraged such comparisons, and have held that the painters pictorial innovations owe substantially to the impact of photos they saw. This line of thinking however is inaccurate and misleading. - Kirk Vanerdoe Pg 99 Considerable in importance, value, degree, amount, or extent web To qualify as a meaningful influence, photography need not have such a direct role, but its impact should be more substantial Vanerdoe (pg 100) Kirk Vanerdoe Bottom of Page 105 this means among other things that a nineteenth century painting may share many characteristics with a photograph, without being the least bit influenced by photography; and therefore we should be vary wary of unjustly enlarging the claims made for photography's effect What did photographic pictures show painters that other pictures had not shown.
The short answer little of any significance Vanerdoe (pg 100)
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Research essay sample on Photographic Influence On Degas Work
