The subtle tension between painting and photography
Many of my painting materials come from photography and stills of movies. For me, photography and painting have a deep relationship, they not only influence each other but also exclude each other. In this essay, I will discuss the relationship between painting and photography in a long history. First of all, I will introduce the mutual influence between painting and photography in different periods for reference and mutual learning. Then I will represent the so-called death of painting due to the emergence of photography. To illustrate the intricate relationship between painting and photography and images. For many years，the relationship between painting and photography is complex, and they learn from and repel each other. It is because of this relationship that both of them have different degrees of change and growth.
Since the birth of photography, photography has been labeled as the related art form of painting. Compared with the documentary function of painting, the impact of the authenticity and documentary nature of photography on it is an unprecedented subversion and revolution. Because it is a related art, the aesthetic and theoretical system of photography also benefits from painting.
Because of the emergence of photography, the realism pursued by painters for thousands of years basically lost its value of existence. From that moment on, painting was forced to embark on a long march. While in 1846, led by renowned French neoclassical painter Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, a large number of artists protest and petition, want the government to ban the promotion and spread of photography but advocate science westerners or with its for reproduction and verifiable pursuit, the photography technology optimization and popularization, slowly also ended the painting for the meaning of the authenticity of the natural world to explore. On the way of painting reform and self-salvation, the impressionism bore the brunt and found a new breakthrough for painters. Then brutalist, abstract, to this day, the representative of the impressionist cubist Pablo Picasso painting has become a treasure of collectors. The dadaism took the painting in a new direction. In the same time, a lot of painters abandoned their drawing boards and brushes and lost themselves in painting and art.
In 1852，some photographers used photographic paper to print photographs, giving them a ‘Rembrandt effect’. “In contrast to Daguerre’s silvered plates, which produced unique images, the calotype used sensitised paper and enabled multiple prints. It was thus far more versatile, even though the paper’s fibres typically created ‘Rembrandtesque’ effects in place of Daguerre’s precision. ”（https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/in-focus/pegwell-bay-kent-william-dyce/painting-and-photography，Tate, 2019）French photographer Gustave Le Gray’s The Brig (also known as Sea and Sky) been acclaimed as ‘the finest photograph yet produced’. It is due to his photos can show the quality of many excellent paintings and embody the rich sense of layers. He combines the appreciation and authenticity of photos very well.
Alfred Stieglitz was known as the "father of modern American photography". Alfred was born 11 years after Van Gogh, who developed his own post-impressionism and influenced later generations. Alfred, who also lived in that era, also started his own style of pictorial photography at the beginning of photography due to the influence of painting. In the following two decades, he gradually abandoned pictorial photography through exploration and turned to purism and realism. Alfred began his photographic career at the age of nineteen (1883). At the beginning of his exposure to photography, less than fifty years after the invention of photography, this young art form also revealed a need to develop with painting. At that time, the mainstream aesthetic of photography was the painting style, which also revealed the aesthetic atmosphere. But in 1902, Alfred and several of his fellow graphic photographers decided to put together "the photographic disrupter" to show that photography is not an art accessory. Since then, he has developed his photography style towards pure photography, trying to make photography independent of painting. He said that “I am not a painter, nor an artist. Therefore I can see straight, and that may be my undoing.”
Winter，Fifth Avenue，1893 Venetian Canal，1894
As famous as The night watch of Rembrandt, it allows us to see the importance of light, the line of sight of the audience will follow the lead of light and shadow, and the air in his paintings are clear, have built the atmosphere of a unique night, he has made this picture in the visual center under the premise of clear and balanced story and mystery. Back to that time，some painter's method of using light, creating the visual center and building atmosphere are of great reference value for photography, film, as well as drama. Because painting began much earlier than photography, photography can certainly learn a lot from painting. With the continuous development of the Internet, photo materials are almost everywhere, as a reference with authenticity and timeliness. Many artists use photographs as their background and inspiration. Such as Daniel Richter who is one of the representative figures of German contemporary easel painting. Daniel Richter's materials mostly come from news pictures, such as some pictures of protests, disasters and civil wars, as well as street fights, which serve as a model for the artistic treatment of events that have happened and the translation into the current understanding. He does not want just simply record history, but through his narration, urges others to think about the society. Nor did he offer a solution, but asked questions of those who were confused by his paintings.
American painter Edward Hopper was one of the most important realist painters in America. Under his brush, all unnecessary elements are erased. He was good at using contrasting light and large geometric figures to heighten the mood of his characters. Hopper masterly used light to heighten the mood of the characters has been used for reference by many photographers. Whitney Museum of American Art held an exhibition titled "Hopper and photography" to explore how Hopper's paintings have influenced contemporary photography. American photographer Richard Tashman was one of the photographers influenced by Hopper's paintings. To honor his favorite painter, he took a group named "Hopper meditations" photography project, in which he completely simulate Edward Hopper's expression, creation theme, and picture composition, a scene of two characters in the quiet, open mode of narrative, behind the seemingly ordinary events, give a poignant and mysterious feeling. “In other ways, my pictures diverge from Hopper’s paintings. The general mood in my work is more somber, and the lighting is less harsh than in Hopper’s. I am trying to achieve an effect perhaps closer to the chiaroscuro lighting of Rembrandt, another painter I greatly admire.”Tuschman said.（https://www.lensculture.com/articles/richard-tuschman-hopper-meditations，LensCulture, 2019）Therefore, he always adheres to the idea when shooting pictures ,he does not just use light to see the physical outline of the subject, but to shine light into their heart. As a result, he retains in his work the image of the silent model in Hopper's paintings, a sense of stillness that helps to leave some space for emotional depth. It seems that the mood of the characters was wandering between fantasy and alienation. Tashman also thought about why he was so attracted by the emotion conveyed by Hopper's works. In addition to the fact that a large number of the background of his paintings were the New York he was familiar with, the experience of human nature in urban life -- loneliness, alienation and desire were exactly what he was familiar with.
As for Michael Armitage Kenyan painter, now living in London, his subjects are often related to life and history in East Africa, so whenever he goes to East Africa he makes a lot of drawing , recording as much material as possible，then when he back to London ，he will start painting in his studio ，he said he looks into different images and things that are on social media and his archive of drawings，then decided how to paint，he used to combine popular culture which he found on social media with his drawings. It is also because of the ubiquity and documentary nature of photos that the path of painting was once made difficult, but at the same time, it provided abundant materials and resources for artists, making the forms of art more diversified.
American painter Anthony Cudahy, his have always been drawn to photography but also avid be a collector of images，he does not see photos as opposed to a painting practice but a kind of new visual language. Anthony Cudahy's main works are completely original and emotionally complex paintings created from photographs of discovery，and his techniques skill not really a novelty. He is particularly interested in what he calls "the history of images" and explores the transformation and degradation of an image by creating a new language with codes and symbols through copying. When Cudahy appropriates a specific image and translates it into a painting, the result is an iteration and interpretation, as the finished work, with its vibrant strokes and chunks of color, becomes the lineage of another chain of images.
In conclusion，Combining with my own work, I always choose images in film or photography as a reference to create a painting. Because I can easily have empathy to an image itself ，that makes me have a desire to paint, just like Richard Tashman' photography, are refer to Hopper' paintings. I'm not sure where the boundaries of imitation, as for me, If I give a new kind of feeling onto the original material produced works then that may not be a copy. For today's artist ，pictures as a material are almost unable to avoid , they are very practical, whether directly as an object, or as college material, or indirectly as hosting events, memories of the container, they are very reliable and easy to get. At the same time photos for artists may also be a double-edged sword, compared with the music, novel this kind of information, images may have been too directly, can let the imagination space been limited, so we should be careful to use images in the creation as well. As painters, we may need to select useful information from images and make good use of it. However, we should not be bound by the image itself. Instead, we should carry more emotions, ideas, and thoughts based on the image but make our paintings higher than the image itself. For photographers, the techniques, effects, color relations, stories and ideas in the painting can also be used as a reference when taking photos.Therefore, the relationship between painting and photography are mutually exclusive and mutually supportive. It is kind of complicated ，they have both benefited from each other's development and have had to make some difficult changes at the same time. I am looking forward to the new combination of painting and photography in the future.
References:
Font-Reaulx, D. and Radzinowicz, D. (2012). Painting and photography, 1839-1914. Paris: Flammarion.
Leekyoungyul (2012). The Truth of the Photograph and its Representation of Observer Appeared in the Painting of History. Cross-Cultural Studies, 29, pp.25-53.
Shared intelligence: American painting and the photograph. (2011). Choice Reviews Online, 48(12), pp.48-6720-48-6720.
Hopper, E. (1989). Edward Hopper. New York, N.Y.: Whitney Museum of American Art.
ALL TOO HUMAN. (2019). [S.l.]: SPRINGER.
Strange Fire. (2019). Q&A: Anthony Cudahy — Strange Fire. [online] Available at: http://www.strangefirecollective.com/qa-anthony-cudahy [Accessed 7 May 2019].
Big Think. (2019). How Photography Changed Painting (and Vice Versa). [online] Available at: https://bigthink.com/Picture-This/how-photography-changed-painting-and-vice-versa [Accessed 7 May 2019].
LensCulture, R. (2019). Hopper Meditations - Photographs and text by Richard Tuschman | LensCulture. [online] LensCulture. Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/richard-tuschman-hopper-meditations [Accessed 7 May 2019].
