Romantics, Pictorialists and The Photo Secession

The 1850s to the 1890s photography started to reflect peoples feelings of wanting to go back to a pre-industrial time. A group of painters called the pre-rafalites were most influential at this time. It saw a gothic revival where architecture was influenced such as the houses of parliament and Westminster. People felt the need to escape the highly industrial nation and this was reflected through music and photography. This is shown through Edward Elgar's piece of music 'Nimrod'. The music is uplifting, romantic and while listening emotion builds up throughout.

'Gathering Water lilies'

The idea of expression through art and photography became acceptable. There was an arts and crafts movement as people wanted to reject mass production and go back to something more handmade. 'Gathering water lilies' by Dr Peter Henry Emerson depicts workers in a boat picking flowers from the water. The photograph shows how romance was associated with work.  

The emergence of impressionism was influenced by photography. The idea of capturing a moment or a movement was shown in this work and the invention of the dry plate made it easier to capture moments because it was cheaper and no darkroom was needed. Music was again influenced 'Three Gymnopedies' (1888) by Eric Satie was a sweet, relaxing and carefree music. Impressionists expressed a lot of emotions and feelings and also showed a notion of time and speed.

'Casa Mila'

Art nouveau or 'New Art' was a new way of making things and again the notion of wanting to go back to nature appeared. Architecture such as the Casa Mila in Barcelona designed by Gaudi reflected the art nouveau movement. Gaudi intended it to be a spiritual symbol and it was built for a married couple. It was a controversial design at the time with its wrought iron design on the balconies and windows.

  

'The Steerage'

During the early 1900’s there was a mass migration to America by a number of photographers. ‘The steerage’ by Alfred Stieglitz shows the notion of mass migration from Western Europe to America. The photograph depicts class division and poverty where the poorer classes at the bottom while the middle classes and wealthy are on the top deck.

'The Flat Iron'

Further developments in photographic technology was also happening, when George Eastman created Kodak. The Kodak brownie was the first mass produced and affordable camera invented in 1900. The family photograph could be produced and families could take pictures of items they owned and had sentimental value. There were also advancements in other technology, for example the invention of the lightbulb and other artificial light. A photograph by Edward Steichen 'The Flat iron' depicts this and shows street lamps in the city. It also shows the emergence of cities and how they were expanding.