"The Ontology of the Photographic Image" by Andre Bazin followed by personal train of thought very closely. Bazin looks back on the invention of the reproducible photograph and comments on its impact on the common style of art. The term "plastic arts" was used frequently to describe the arts that could be molded. However, I found it interesting that by the end of the essay, when the story of photography was almost over, Bazin included photography in the scope of the plastic arts. "So, photography is clearly the most important event in the history of plastic arts." (page 243). Bazin is not directly includin photography into the plastic arts, but recognizing the key role that it played in influencing the plastic arts. Photography "liberated" the previous art forms because it achieved the perfect replica of nature. Before photographs, the purpose of art was to document or tell a story through realism. Each artist strove to paint what the eye actually saw. Since perfection was finally reached, to the point where photographs could capture details even the naked eye left out, the plastic arts could move on to portray their subjects in different manners. "Photography has freed the plastic arts from their obession with likeness." Photography impacted the art world on a comparable level to oil paint. Oil paint dried slower, so greater detail could be displayed through meticulous work. The camera allowed a single moment of time to be frozen with exact detail. With each new invention, the art world was drastically altered.
With each work of art, there was a battle between psychological realism and aesthetic realism. Each work of art portrayed some scene, with care in likeness to reality; however, each scene also held an emotion, or aura, as we talked about with Benjamin's essay. The plastic arts constantly had to balance both types of realism. The photograph, however, could capture emotion and physical likeness, demolishing the conflict between the two.
The "mummy complex" described at the beginning of the essay is very interesting, but quite accurate. The ancient Egyptians held that preserving through the representation of life preserved the life of the departed. With the evolution of art, portraits replaced embalming, and much later, photos replaced portraits. "Images help us preserve te subjects from a second spiritual death." The subjects are better preserved by a more accurate representation, hence the photograph.
With the new freedom from realism in the plastic arts, artists were able to focus on the dreamworld. New movements like Surrealism, Dada, and Abstract art began to emerge simply because they could. The art world no longer called for realistic pieces, and artists were free to paint their emotions. The plastic arts became much more subjective.
"Photography taught us to admire both nature and painting, but takes away from neither." This statement would have been very controversial at the beginnings of photography because society was unsure about its affects. But now, society can look back and see what great changes have arisen through the invention of photography and can appreciate both photography and pianting, but not be afraid of the loss of either.
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Out of the two articles that I wrote I thought the essay written by Bazin. I thought that the expressions he used were very different than anything we have read lately. Benjamin seemed to like to alter words and use them in different ways than we are used to. Bazin simply used phrases and examples that the reader should know. Bazin writes of mankinds apparent obsession with attenpting to conserve all they know so as to attempt to be immortal in a way. He writes of the Egyptians and their embalment of the dead. But he writes of the evolution of human's preservation and how it changed fromm embalment to portraits. Bazin refers to this as a "form of insurance." He also moves to a comparison between painting and photography and the challenge to capture the reality around the "artist". I thought it was interesting when he stated; "all the art are based in the presence of man, only photography derives an advantage from his absence". Its an interestng observation because i agree. I think that its interesting to look at photography that way, the picture is an "inferier way of making likeness". I believed that Bazin's argument was amazingly clear and interesting to read.
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