Romantics, Pictorialists and the Photo Secession.

Romantics, Pictorialists and the Photo Secession

Pictorialism was an international style and aesthetic movement which dominated photography during the later 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Although there is no standard definition of the term it generally refers to a style in which a photographer has somehow manipulated what would otherwise be a straightforward photograph as a means of ‘creating’ an image rather than simply recording it. Typically in a pictorial photograph there would appear to be a lack of sharp focus, it would be printed in one or more colours rather than black and white and may have visible brush strokes or other manipulation on the surface. For a pictoralist, a photograph, like a draeing, engraving or painting, was a way of projecting an emotional intent into the viewers realm of imagination.

Pre-Raphaelite’s was a group of English painters, poets and critics founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, they were soon joined by William Michael Rossetti, James Colinson, Frederic George Stephans and Thoman Woolner, they then formed a seven member ‘brotherhood’. The groups intention was to reform art by rejecting what is considered the mechanistic approach first adopted by the Mannerist artists. The members believed that the classical poses and elegent compositions of Raphael in particular has been a corrupting influence on the academic teaching of art.

Julia Margaret Cameron – The Mountain Nymph Sweet Liberty 1866.

Cameron was influenced by the pre-raphaelites. Nymph was a mythological term for a young attractive woman who was innocent living in the forest. Greek myths would include plenty of morals and ethics and the Victorians were big on morals and I believe this would draw in the attention. Friends and family would play out roles for Cameron for her photographs.

Sir John Everett Millais – Ophelia 1851 – 1852
Photograph is based on Shakespeares play Hamlet.

Secessionism

From the official politics, the first secession occurred in France when in 1890 the ‘Salon au Champs-de-Mars’ was established. The years following artists in various European countries took up this impulse which seceded from traditional art movements and embraced progressive styles. The bst known secession movement was the Vienna Secession formed in 1897 which included Gustav Klimt, who favoured the ornate Art Nouveau style over the prevailing styles of the time.