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When Is A Photograph Fine Art?
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by Tom Hubbard, PMPN, July 20, 2009
This week, the Portland Metro Photographic News will be dominated by the question most frequently asked by aspiring photographers, "When is a photograph fine art?" It is also the most elusive and possibly unanswerable question lovers of photography (of any art for that matter) encounter. The subject of "photography as an art form" is extremely subjective, and there are about as many relevant answers to this question as there are photographers and art critics.
So, it's PMPN's turn at bat.
Rather than just add one more voice to the conversation, I decided there was safety in numbers. Over the last two weeks, PMPN has surveyed and solicited the opinions of experts and professionals throughout the photographic and graphic arts industries. Leaning on what I remember of my college statistics classes, there is much truth and direction to be found in the collective opinions of a large group of knowledgeable individuals.
It's this collective wisdom that PMPN is seeking. You will see individual opinions from several experts as well as the collected thoughts of over 100 photography and graphic art professionals who generously gave of their time to submit responses to our survey. All of these collaborators understood that I was preparing a series of articles for the readers of the Portland Metro Photographic News. So, consider their thoughts as well-intentioned and carefully-considered gifts to the Pacific Northwest photography community -- and especially to those photographic artists who are struggling with this question in their own emerging careers.
The discussion of "When is a photograph fine art?" opens with Craig Stevens. Craig is a good friend and Professor of Photography at the renowned Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia. Craig's Master of Fine Arts degree is in Photography, and his entire working life has been dedicated to teaching the photographic art.
Craig has contributed his time and wisdom to provide his thoughts on "When is a photograph fine art?" Click here.
Categories: Guest Commentaries, From the Editor
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11 Comments
That is when I stopped playing the rules of competitions. Competitions with other photographers, with myself and with what is the current flavor or galleries and curators. I only photograph when I want, on subjects I want to explore and produce how I want.
Makes life easier and that is the fun part for me.
The value of the artistic process may be measure individually. The value of a resultant work is measured... how? Is it just monetary? For commercial artists, I'd bet the answer is yes. For solitary practitioners who's only goal is to make a "pretty picture", success might be limited to their own view of the world. For the rest of us, success is probably defined through interactions and feedback with viewers of one's work. For us, feelings of success might come in any number of way. It even could be a condition where defining something as "fine art" might hardly be the point.
Not "validation", exactly. Think in terms of sharing and honing one's ideas. For some of us, true validation comes only from within.
Art is interpreted in some form of a cultural context. Otherwise, either we speak only to ourselves (sometimes not very satisfying) or, at another end of the spectrum, we try to promote our work in the big bad meeting place of commerce (somethings a brawl breaks out).
It seems to me that few of us have the need or desire to express ourselves in isolation. So it becomes an active choice regarding the method and depth of participation in art (on all its levels and opportunities).
Michael Stathatos says...
YIKES! Hey Christopher, I thank you for responding, however if you, as an artist, seek outside validation for your work, you are heading down a very slippery slope.
"For the rest of US" sounds like we versus them.
Photography is to be enjoyed by one or by many. It's up to the individual.
This is the problem of trying to define what is art. It starts to divide us. Photography should be inclusive.
My reasons for the quotation marks was to illustrate the "us vs them" experiences I have had when it comes to talking about "fine art". At the level of art it has felt to me many times to be very competitive. Rather like an assumed "us vs them".
Having said that, I learned a very valuable lesson when I was out photographing with other artists. Even with nearly identical tripod positions and in identical light the end results between the artists were, to me, surprisingly diverse.
My recent readings of Bill Jay have strongly colored my view of photography as art and has done little to foster a more cooperative view of things. Maybe I'm getting old and cranky?
Robert Brummitt says...
...By placing quotation marks around the word "Pretty Pictures" says that you may have little value to that persons work or ideas, if he or she wishes to do work for themselves.
"For the rest of US" sounds like we versus them.
Photography is to be enjoyed by one or by many. It's up to the individual.
This is the problem of trying to define what is art. It starts to divide us. Photography should be inclusive.
[/Christopher Perez]
I too will miss Bill and his writings in Lenwork. I have read and reread his two books by LW. It's my hope that maybe Brooks Jensen will follow with a third book. A collection of some of Bill's best.
As to the age issue, I like to think I get more mellow but somethings do get my thinking cap on and our little discussion here has done just that. I thank you both Christopher and Michael for this. I hope that we can do this again.
Until then I wish you the best lighting and great fun with your photography.
Robert B
I am so grateful that someone like Vincent Van Gogh didn't listen to the critics of his time, otherwise he would have ended up as a brick layer or something. Whether or not Art is ultimately interpreted in some sort of cultural context, it is still of no concern to the artist. I am afraid that, as I see it, some people confuse "Art" with "Product", and yes, I think that Van Gogh's paintings are very pretty pictures, but a hell of a lot more as well. My point is that you can get yourself tied up in all kinds of knots if you take to heart too much what other people have to say about your work. Most people who opine about art are usually just in love with the sound of their own voices. When it comes to judging artwork, the only person whose opinion matters is that of the artist who made it. Also, I never said that that art can be created, and life can be lived, in a vaccuum. The only way to bring resonance and meaning to one's own work is to engage fully in life.
Counter-question: Were Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, Piero della Francesca, Brunelleschi, or Leonardo da Vinci any less great artists because they lived at the whim and whimsy of their patrons? Afterall, each and every one of these artists were, in the modern sense of the phrase, working commercial artists.
While I have my strong preferences on how I personally proceed, I feel there is more than ample room for all of the varied approaches to art creation and sharing. I recognize that I am influenced to a moderate degree by the work of others. It is sometimes where I get some of my best adapted ideas upon which to build.
Michael Stathatos says...
I am so grateful that someone like Vincent Van Gogh didn't listen to the critics of his time, otherwise he would have ended up as a brick layer or something. Whether or not Art is ultimately interpreted in some sort of cultural context, it is still of no concern to the artist.
But the big guys, those who have really worked and honed their personal vision. Do not depend on sharing their work with others. They seem to say is how I see my environment take or leave it.
I mean they enjoy sharing work with fans of their work and to peers but the finish print is the final word.
I remember at one workshop, someone suggested a noted B&W photographer why that his foreground was to dark and the response was thats how I saw it. That was how I wanted when printing.
I also noted that some photographers are sure of themselves. There is no photography by committee. It's their show and so be it.
I'm not an expert of painters, so I can't really add to Michael's or Christopher's knowledge. I do like the work of the French Impressionists. They followed their own rules of work and I sometimes belief that we photographers are more like them then other forms of artist.
One more thing, I believe that Edward Weston made it clear that he was a photographer not an artist. I maybe wrong but I thought I had read that somewhere.
This blog is a lot of fun. Thank you again!
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