آرون سيسكيند وهاري كالاهان : التصميم التجريدي .. تطوير نهجك الخاص .. المرشد خطوة بخطوة للتصوير الفوتوغرافي
AARON SISKIND AND HARRY CALLAHAN : Abstract design
The photographs of Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind are often discussed together . This is partly because of the emphasis on abstract design in their pictures , but mostly because for many years they both taught at the photographic department of Illinois Institute of Design in Chicago , often called the " New Bauhaus " .
Aaron Siskind
Aaron Siskind was originally acclaimed as a documentary photographer of subjects such as Harlem slums and life in the Bowery . In the early 1940s he turned from a subject- dominated approach to one in which sub- ject matter was subordinated to abstract design . He started taking close - ups of the rocks and boulders along the Massachusetts coast , studying their interesting textures and forms . Soon he had moved on to sub- jects which were often no longer recog- nizable for what they were . Defaced walls , weathered wood , blistered paint and other inconsequential objects normally ignored were transformed in his photographs into aesthetic images .
Siskind was inspired by the Abstract Expressionists ' tenet that art need not be representational to be expressive . He be- lieves that meaning and beauty should be conveyed by the photograph itself , rather than by any meaning in the scene it shows The response he evokes therefore relies largely on his organization of abstract shapes , tones , and textures . Like Callahan he is not interested in the ability of the camera to represent the world we normally see or to record events , but to explore the abstract qualities of ordinary , often un- noticed subjects . His pictures are character- ized by strong tonal contrasts , extreme crispness of detail , and lack of depth -
everything seems to be on the same plane . He often increases the dark tones of his pic- tures in order to emphasize a certain texture or shape . But he never arranges a subject before photographing it nor retouches it afterwards , believing in the straightforward application of photography .
Rome , 1973
Like the work of Abstract Expres- sionist painters , the close - up picture , left , relies entirely on surface design The subject itself is both unrecog- nizable and unimportant - the impact of the picture results from Siskind's organization of shape and texture .
Peeling paint , Jerome 1949
Siskind used crisp detail and sharp tonal contrasts to transform a simple subject into a picture with both mood and character .
Harry Callahan
Callahan's work is characterized by strong use of line and pattern and extreme formal simplicity . Although most of his subjects are drawn from nature , his primary concern is to represent but to explore the abstract qualities of his subjects . His photo graphs are studies of line , texture , and other elements of picture building . To this end he uses his camera and photographic work to isolate and exploit those elements he finds interesting in a subject . For example he will often emphasize line and form in a subject by using the extremes of the tonal scale , creating a simplified , linear design in pure black and white .
Many of his plant forms and landscapes display a lack of space and depth , appearing to be on the surface of the print rather than being seen through photography's " window on the world " . He will photograph these in flattened perspective , with no foreground By eliminating the sense of three - dimen- sions he enhances the purely abstract , non- representational qualities of his subject .
One of Callahan's favorite subjects is the facades of buildings chosen for their pattern and proportions rather than for any architectural significance . He also photo- architectural significance . He also photo- graphs nudes , often showing them in sil- houette or in the same austere linear form as his studies of plants and trees .
Occasionally Callahan experiments with multiple images , using multiple exposures or superimposition to achieve a sense of move- ment and juxtaposition of pattern . Unlike Jerry Uelsmann ( see pp . 200-1 ) he com- poses and blends his images in the camera rather than constructing them in the dark- room from separate negatives .
In comparison to Siskind , Callahan's sub- ject matter is both more varied and more recognizable . But both use photography to pick out and transform familiar subjects into abstract works of art . Some critics would argue that their pictures are obscure and austere ; others admire them for their formal economy and strong sense of graphic design .
Tree in winter , 1956
In the photograph , below , shape is transposed into pattern and dynamic movement . Callahan used a multiple exposure , rotating his camera slightly between exposures to produce a repeating pattern of varying tones .
A weed , 1951
The picture above is an example of the extreme simplicity of Callahan's approach . To achieve the delicate linear quality of this photograph , Callahan used a combination of underexposure and overdevelop- ment and printed the negative on high - contrast paper . The resulting image could easily be mistaken for a line drawing .
AARON SISKIND AND HARRY CALLAHAN : Abstract design
The photographs of Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind are often discussed together . This is partly because of the emphasis on abstract design in their pictures , but mostly because for many years they both taught at the photographic department of Illinois Institute of Design in Chicago , often called the " New Bauhaus " .
Aaron Siskind
Aaron Siskind was originally acclaimed as a documentary photographer of subjects such as Harlem slums and life in the Bowery . In the early 1940s he turned from a subject- dominated approach to one in which sub- ject matter was subordinated to abstract design . He started taking close - ups of the rocks and boulders along the Massachusetts coast , studying their interesting textures and forms . Soon he had moved on to sub- jects which were often no longer recog- nizable for what they were . Defaced walls , weathered wood , blistered paint and other inconsequential objects normally ignored were transformed in his photographs into aesthetic images .
Siskind was inspired by the Abstract Expressionists ' tenet that art need not be representational to be expressive . He be- lieves that meaning and beauty should be conveyed by the photograph itself , rather than by any meaning in the scene it shows The response he evokes therefore relies largely on his organization of abstract shapes , tones , and textures . Like Callahan he is not interested in the ability of the camera to represent the world we normally see or to record events , but to explore the abstract qualities of ordinary , often un- noticed subjects . His pictures are character- ized by strong tonal contrasts , extreme crispness of detail , and lack of depth -
everything seems to be on the same plane . He often increases the dark tones of his pic- tures in order to emphasize a certain texture or shape . But he never arranges a subject before photographing it nor retouches it afterwards , believing in the straightforward application of photography .
Rome , 1973
Like the work of Abstract Expres- sionist painters , the close - up picture , left , relies entirely on surface design The subject itself is both unrecog- nizable and unimportant - the impact of the picture results from Siskind's organization of shape and texture .
Peeling paint , Jerome 1949
Siskind used crisp detail and sharp tonal contrasts to transform a simple subject into a picture with both mood and character .
Harry Callahan
Callahan's work is characterized by strong use of line and pattern and extreme formal simplicity . Although most of his subjects are drawn from nature , his primary concern is to represent but to explore the abstract qualities of his subjects . His photo graphs are studies of line , texture , and other elements of picture building . To this end he uses his camera and photographic work to isolate and exploit those elements he finds interesting in a subject . For example he will often emphasize line and form in a subject by using the extremes of the tonal scale , creating a simplified , linear design in pure black and white .
Many of his plant forms and landscapes display a lack of space and depth , appearing to be on the surface of the print rather than being seen through photography's " window on the world " . He will photograph these in flattened perspective , with no foreground By eliminating the sense of three - dimen- sions he enhances the purely abstract , non- representational qualities of his subject .
One of Callahan's favorite subjects is the facades of buildings chosen for their pattern and proportions rather than for any architectural significance . He also photo- architectural significance . He also photo- graphs nudes , often showing them in sil- houette or in the same austere linear form as his studies of plants and trees .
Occasionally Callahan experiments with multiple images , using multiple exposures or superimposition to achieve a sense of move- ment and juxtaposition of pattern . Unlike Jerry Uelsmann ( see pp . 200-1 ) he com- poses and blends his images in the camera rather than constructing them in the dark- room from separate negatives .
In comparison to Siskind , Callahan's sub- ject matter is both more varied and more recognizable . But both use photography to pick out and transform familiar subjects into abstract works of art . Some critics would argue that their pictures are obscure and austere ; others admire them for their formal economy and strong sense of graphic design .
Tree in winter , 1956
In the photograph , below , shape is transposed into pattern and dynamic movement . Callahan used a multiple exposure , rotating his camera slightly between exposures to produce a repeating pattern of varying tones .
A weed , 1951
The picture above is an example of the extreme simplicity of Callahan's approach . To achieve the delicate linear quality of this photograph , Callahan used a combination of underexposure and overdevelop- ment and printed the negative on high - contrast paper . The resulting image could easily be mistaken for a line drawing .
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