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Photography; The Revolution of Art

Outline

The widespread utilization of photography as the most important form of art comes with much shifting and similarities with other forms of art. The function and purpose of photography, has also been changing over time. Its influence on a drawing is enormous – leading to a change of purpose of drawings. On the hand, paintings were reduced in functionality since the advent of photography. Replacing both drawings and paintings, it has become the most depended form of art. This paper has focused on the influence of photography in the 19th and 20th Century as well as how shifting and sharing in purposes and functions of drawing, painting, and photography by citing examples.

This paper intends to unravel the various ways photography has revolutionized art since the early 19th Century up to the 20th Century. It delves into studying the chronologic development of photography and the ramifications tied to it in art. Various books and journals have been used to inform this article. I support my thesis (various ways photography has revolutionized art) by clear – cut details of the influence it has had on art as well the shifts, it has in the focuses of both drawing and painting. This paper does not merely explore the influence photography has had on art, but rather brings it out chronologically together with its examples.

Introduction

Emerging in the early 19th Century, photography has had revolutionizing influence on art since the 19th and 20th Century to the proving of the cliché ‘change is inevitable.’ Photography communicates a wide spectrum of artistic concerns. It is a complex language as some refer it to, and has swallowed while assisting drawing and painting to become the master medium of art. By depicting different stages of phenomena as well as expressing deep socio-cultural, economic and political aspects, photography emerged as a dependent form of art. It has also led to shifts in both the purpose and function of drawing and painting. It shares purposes with drawings and paintings such as criticizing social vices, though in varying degrees (Kozbelt,93). To have a holistic image, of how photography has revolutionized art as well as influencing the functions and purposes of artistic work, a holistic study has to be applied.

Body

Influence Of Photography On The Art Of 19th Century

Photography emerged in the early 19th Century and has been changing the perception of human creativity, imagination, and visualization. It has revolutionized art faster than it was thought to. Paintings, as well as drawing, are largely influenced by photography in a number of ways. Photography has had increasing functionality as the photos could show petty issues from the scene. The quote “Painting is dead” – Paul Delaroche, French painter (Pompe, 488 – 495) indicated the revolutionary take over. The drawing of maps was also replaced with aerial photographs. Photography enabled follow - up on the development of a phenomenon or feature such as a building, lifestyle indications, and expansion of a town(Gelder).

Flipping the coin to the other side, photography has advanced the accuracy of painting and drawing of features. Photography enabled the assessment of relationships between features using a photograph as a point of reference. Since drawings and paintings, unlike photographs, are permanent, they applied photographs as a tool of refining its work. The amount of detail of paint or drawing was to a great extent influenced by what was captured by a photograph. This made themes to become clearer as painters and drawers began using photographs are speedy sketching tools (Kozbelt, 93).

Influence of photography in the 20th Century

Developments in photography that took place in the 20th Century had many influences on art. Contrary to the earlier days, writings and paintings were replaced by photography as a channel for advocating for social changes, economic reforms, and political restructurings. A photograph creates more sense than a drawing when addressing starvation or insecurity. Photography became the media for advertising products since they are appealing to the eye. Though photographs convey the direct aspect of an issue, drawings have chipped in to critique a situation and increase the breadth of understanding an issue by expanding the human perception. Drawings nowadays supplement photographs in understanding an issue. Drawings apply a lot of creativity such as sarcasm (Russell).

Photojournalism has influenced art with great strides. The creation of the mind-boggling memorable images is a feat that photography has achieved against painting and drawing. Art photography has led to the expression of subjective experiences. In contemporary photography, subjectivity has increased with a greater display of the phenomena. This has made drawings and paintings gain value as iconic artifices that add taste in houses and entertainment circles due to their rarity (Chamberlain, 167-173).

The core purpose of art is to have a clear interpretation of the subject matter. However, with changing human conditions as well as nature, the use of art has also changed. Drawings and paintings change a little compared to photographs in addressing issues. A portrait of the 1650s can be confused with another of 1930s, even though depicting different issues. This has made photography achieve much influence in art as a preferred medium for a continuous – changing human and social landscape (Gelder).

Shifting of functions and purposes of art by painting, drawing, and photography

Paintings and drawings have had their functions and purposes shifting over time. However, this is driven much by photography. Paintings help people to perceive the world in a profound way, unlike photographs. Drawings, on the other hand, depict issues and situations much better. Use of sarcasm is well exploited in drawings. Drawings usually invoke creative thinking but their purpose and function have shifted to express the artist himself or herself. A painting whose primary purpose and function is to express the feelings and emotions of the artist has shifted to become a classical artifice – art piece for prestige (Russell).

Drawings and paintings have been shifting in purpose to serve as decorations in houses and offices. In state buildings and offices, photographs of founding fathers of the nations are displayed as a symbol of authority. On some buildings in state capitals, names of national figures are well etched in a piece of paint to commemorate the purpose they have served. For example, in New York City, a plaque with names of victims of the 9/11 bomb blast is laid as a commemoration (Russell).

Sharing of functions and purposes of art by painting, drawing, and photography

The sharing of function and purposes is fueled by the fact that paintings are a further development of drawings. In as much in drawing as in painting, the content is built with line and form. The number of dimensions of an object can be the same in both. Both the two media can utilize perspective together with value to contextualize distance and space. Painting and drawing can be used to portray objects, scenes as well as people. Drawings serve to enhance the perfection in engraving and lino-printmaking. Drawings serve the function of being the foundation of developing the painting (Kozbelt, 93).

Drawings and paintings share a purpose in that they both depict social-cultural issues at large. To greater extent drawings and paintings express the artists' imagination. Both forms of art function to communicate a great deal of information. They both serve to entertain when addressing an issue such as corruption sarcastically. Driving propaganda and commercializing an issue is well depicted by a drawing or a painting rather than a picture. Critics in newspapers usually represent corrupt authorities as hyenas holding a briefcase stashed with money (Russell).

Conclusion

It is vivid that photography is at the frontier in the revolution of art. It is not only a dominant form of art but has also sent waves of change in drawing and painting as forms of art. Most painters and drawers depend on photography as a basis of coming up with their artistic products. It has therefore not only led the pack as the dominant form of art but has also transformed functions and purposes of drawing and painting. In the process, antique paintings and drawings have made become artifices for decorations in homes. It is the dominant form of art in the contemporary world with photojournalism emerging out of the famous documentary photography (Chamberlain, 167-173).

Work Cited

Chamberlain, Rebecca, et al. "Drawing on the right side of the brain: A voxel-based morphometry analysis of observational drawing." NeuroImage 96 (2014): 167- 173.

Kozbelt, Aaron, et al. "Visual selection contributes to artists' advantages in realistic drawing." Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 4.2 (2010): 93.

Pompe, Jeffrey. “An investment flash: The rate of return for photographs.” Southern Economic Journal (1996): 488 – 495.

Russell, Bryan C., et al. "Automatic alignment of paintings and photographs depicting a 3D scene." 2011 IEEE international conference on computer vision workshops (ICCV workshops). IEEE, 2011.

Van Gelder, Hilde, and Helen Westgeest. Photography theory in historical perspective. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.