Session 1 – Art, Art History, and History
The Authoritative Eye: Photography and the Modernist Aesthetic
Major
English Literature, Art
List all Project Mentors & Advisor(s)
Dr. Peter Murphy
Presentation Format
Event
Abstract/Description
The process of photography is, due to its technical and separated nature, an inherently modernist medium. The artist must translate the image of an object from the binocular, or three dimensional perspective of the human eye, into a monocular or two-dimensional product, which is then viewed as a three dimensional object. This separation from the viewer allows the artist to manipulate her/his art piece in a number of different ways that form a disjunction from the viewer that is, at its root, representative of the modernist aesthetic. Historically, Modernism sought to describe the disorder and disillusion that affected society after World War I. With violent changes occurring in all forms of society, the Modernists used such techniques as disassociation to “come to grips with” the world that was chaotically and permanently different from anything that had come before. Photography does the same thing as it attempts to capture a moment of time and artistically render it with the disassociated viewer in mind. This presentation will discuss these ideas and illustrate them with original photos.
Other Affiliations
Art, Art History, and History
The Authoritative Eye: Photography and the Modernist Aesthetic
The process of photography is, due to its technical and separated nature, an inherently modernist medium. The artist must translate the image of an object from the binocular, or three dimensional perspective of the human eye, into a monocular or two-dimensional product, which is then viewed as a three dimensional object. This separation from the viewer allows the artist to manipulate her/his art piece in a number of different ways that form a disjunction from the viewer that is, at its root, representative of the modernist aesthetic. Historically, Modernism sought to describe the disorder and disillusion that affected society after World War I. With violent changes occurring in all forms of society, the Modernists used such techniques as disassociation to “come to grips with” the world that was chaotically and permanently different from anything that had come before. Photography does the same thing as it attempts to capture a moment of time and artistically render it with the disassociated viewer in mind. This presentation will discuss these ideas and illustrate them with original photos.