Romantics, Pictoralists and the Photo Secession

The 18^th century saw the emerging feelings of people wanting to go back to a pre industrial era. This photograph of Alice Liddell, the girl which inspired the creation of the classic novel Alice’s adventures in wonderland starts to define the feelings of wanting to go back to older times. The pre-Raphaelite movement also shared this notion influencing the writing and painting of the era.

These photographs by a British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron titled ‘the mountain nymph, sweet liberty’ (left) and the ‘echo’ (right) display themes of mythology and innocence as the two gaze out of frame. ‘With her particularly piecing yet absent gaze, and pale skin she almost resembles a corpse, the title referencing Greek mythology and perhaps also the inherently reflexive nature of the photographic medium’.

During the late 19^th century photography began harking back to nature during the romantic period. Photography was seen as a way of expressing emotion. A photograph by Alexander Keighley a British Pictoralist photographer depicts this idea well. ‘Early morning light envelops the scene from above, cradling the viewer in warmth and the soft vegetation of the woodland surroundings. Such strong emissions of mood are the hallmark of Keighley's photography, which earned him a leading position and much adulation in the Linked Ring Brotherhood.’

During the 19^th century a movement emerged called the impressionist movement. Impressionism was all about capturing a fleeting movement and also looking upon emotion and feeling. This image by Claude Monet the founder of French impressionist painting is one of the iconic impressionist paintings. 

Toward the end of the 19^th century there was an emergence of a new movement. Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art. It was inspired by natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants but also in curved lines. Architects tried to harmonize with the natural environment. Casa Batlló is a building restored by Antoni  Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol, built in 1877 and remodelled in the years The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), as it has a visceral, skeletal organic quality.

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen was an American photographer. His photograph of the flatiron building in New York shows the emergences of artificial light within photography.