Transitions is a good title for this piece of work as I feel there have been many transitions in the months I have spent creating this work. Here I will think about some of these transitions, both in me and the landscape I chose to show. I would like to begin by writing about the reasons I chose Shop Lane for the work I completed.
Shop Lane is about a quarter of a mile from home so easily reachable from home. I walk along it almost every day and I see the changes on a daily basis. It has many features which would allow me to work from the same perspective for each exposure. It is part of a dynamic system both naturally and shows its position in a man made environment which nature alters. Shop Lane has existed through all the traumas man has made since it was built in the mid 1800s but remains as a constant. This was the main reason I chose it, it says to me whatever the world is experiencing this road is present, constant and reassuring.
First the transition within the landscape. At the outset I had visions of showing the four seasons our nation is renowned for. Whilst my photos show the dynamic changes within the landscape they are not the four equal and distinct seasons I was expecting to capture. The weather was mild through the Autumn even into December, the leaves fell from the trees and blew away but the foliage in the undergrowth took advantage of the mild weather and stayed around. We had two spells of cold weather in January and February but not the prolonged spells I remember as a boy. This set of images shows just one year it is not enough time to make any conclusions so it may be interesting to continue this project for several years.
Next the transition within me. I have changed a lot throughout the period of time I have spent on transitions. The biggest change has to be the way I now write. I knew I would struggle with Assignment 4. I used a lot of time reading and practising writing and referencing. There is still room for me to improve and I will be working hard to do so. I read Umberto Eco, How to write a thesis, Eco, “How to Write a Thesis”. and Cite them rite, Pears, “Cite them Rite”, whilst spending time reading and practising writing with the Royal Literary Fund Unknown, “Royal Literary Fund”, an informative website for learning and practising writing.
Finally the transition in the political world evidenced by the headlines I took from the Guardian newspaper Unknown, “The Guardian”, on the 28th of each month or if the 28th was a Sunday I show the headline from the previous Friday. When I started out I expected the main topic in the headlines to be Brexit with the odd curve ball such as a scandal or a disaster. It is no surprise that Covid 19 has been the main headline. In fact Brexit is only mentioned in one Headline with scandals in the Houses of Parliament and another announcing Prince Andrew not co-operating in the Epstein enquiry. The world is enduring a huge transition which I could not have foreseen at the begining. However the reassurance that places like shop lane endure, and all will return to equilibrium eventually is visible to me looking at the landscape all around
Taking these photographs has taught me to think how I can portray a message differently. A photograph iS a snapshot of time. Limited by the space in the frame.Taking the images monthly allowed me to show this dynamic system and how it changes. Using multiple views allows more space to be shown. With the outcome being this work shows the superficial change however my main message of reassurance is also their reinforced by the headlines. A single image would have been more difficult to show this message. I feel these images have allowed me to show the viewer time and space. Altering the perspective of both.
Whilst discussing my work for assignment 5 it was pleasing to hear my tutor liked the work and was great when we explored the work and found areas for improvement. After our video meeting I set to work completing the following work to fine tune the assignment.
First I corrected the spelling of Evaluation in the title this had been auto corrected to evolution and I had missed it when proofreading. This is my first learning to be more attentive to detail when checking my work so errors are eradicated.
I also added a short piece of writing about what I felt photography added to my work compared to painting.
My tutor asked me to look at the series and ensure all the photographs fit within it. After some time looking at the book I felt the photo of the man in football kit didn’t fit. It wasn’t spontaneous, the subject must have planned to take off his outer garments and be in his football strip. Therefore I removed this from the book.
I also reprinted the image of the man stood on the large rock. My tutor was correct I had burned the subject to show texture in his clothing, it detracted from the shot. So I included the original exposure in the re-stitched book. I feel it fits better within the series my tutor was right.
Making a video showing the work in the finished book was a new challenge. I made it from the point of view of my eyes looking at the book as the pages are turned showing each page being turned. This was a hard process, getting the angle of the book so it was parallel to the lens was vital. If this wasn’t achieved the perspective was off and detracted from the video I wanted to show the viewer. Using a tripod made the whole process easier to set up.
My learning log doesn’t allow video, so I will provide a link to it on my dropbox so anyone can see it. I will also include the video for assessment at the relevant time.
Looking at the Artist Statement I agreed that it could be more critical and added more work to the statement. I explained the urgency I had had to work. Not having the time to ponder before the critical moment passed. This was one of the hardest parts of producing this work. The moment lasted a few seconds and I had to be ready.
In the explanation of the process of Japanese Stab Binding I had included the photographs from Portsmouth University (Batey, 2014) I removed these photos and referred to them instead. Providing a link to the work so any reader can see the process I used. Experimenting with a gallery of me re-stitching the book proved difficult, my attempt is not as clear as the photos from Portsmouth University`s site.
Untitled Landscapes Trangmar 1985
Inside the view Sear 2014.
My tutor pointed me to the work of two artists first, Susan Trangmar and her work “Untitled Landscapes” (suetrangmar.com, 1985) shows women looking into the landscape. Each image invites us to look past the back of the viewer into the landscape. The subject is placed so the blind spot is emphasised. This makes me wonder what I am not seeing I start to make stories based on what I am shown and what I cant see. Intriguing and puzzling at the same time. I was unsure if the different scale of the subject worked within the series.
I looked at Helen Sears work focusing on “inside the view” (HelenSear.com, 2014). This work also shows people looking into a landscape., Sears shows two images combined into one, then she adds a third element a layer of fabric. Adding this fabric layer creates a different mood or feeling to each image. I have looked at these images in different mood and they make me feel different reflecting my mood.
Horizon Lennon 2012Boundless Lennon 2012
Whilst looking at the work of these two artists I found work by Julian Lennon (Lennon, 2014). He showed many techniques in his work but two shots showed similar emphasis on the big landscape with people looking into it (Horizon, 2014) (Follow, 2014). A third though has the subject looking out of frame into the camera. (Boundless, 2014). This was challenging to look at, I cannot decide whether I have become accustomed to seeing people looking into the frame. This image seems to bounce my gaze back out of the frame.
This assignment stretched my learning in many ways. I learnt new skills, looked at varied ways of approaching the same technique and considered my work in new ways. It was completely satisfying and most importantly enjoyable.
Caspar David Friedrich The wanderer above a sea of fog 1818.
Caspar David Friedrichs was born on 5th September 1774 and died on 7th August 1840. He was a German Romantic landscape painter. He is known for allegorical paintings showing people in a landscape from behind, contemplating the glory of nature.
He studied in Copenhagen, Denmark and after his studies, he settled in Dresden.
Friedrichs felt disillusioned with the materialist world that was being created at this time. J.M.W Turner and John Constable felt some of the same and painted with this in mind showing nature as a divine creation. Constable said of Turner “Turner . . . seems to paint with tinted steam, so evanescent and so airy” (Frist, 2019). Steam was produced by nearly everything in the industrial revolution.
The sculpture David D`Angers said of Friedrichs “He has discovered the tragedy of landscape”, (Vaughn, 2004). Maybe Friedrichs felt this when he witnessed his brothers drowning in an icy lake as a teenager. His mother and two sisters died around the same time of ill health this could have been a catalyst for the tragedy in his work.
Friedrich won the Weimar competition in 1805 a competition organized by the writer and academic Johan Wolfgang von Goethe this competition had lost its way a little, attracting less skillful artists than Friedrichs. Winning this competition ensured his name was made locally and then his reputation grew. He completed watercolours and etchings completing very little work in oil at this time. Friedrich did draw and paint the local landscape in a divine sort of way.
Goethe said “We must praise the artist’s resourcefulness in this picture fairly. The drawing is well done the procession is ingenious and appropriate. His treatment combines a great deal of firmness, Diligence, and neatness” (Siegel, 1974).
Part of his education was at the Academy of Copenhagen this educational institution allowed him external visits to draw. On one of these outings he met and was later schooled by the theologian “Ludwig Gottard Kossgarten”, who worked with the Lutheran church preaching to a poor congregation of herring fishermen and women. Here Kossgarten preached “Where beauty is understood a metaphysical and related to the divine”. (Raisbeck, 2018). Listening to this would link the divine and Friedrichs landscapes.
In Copenhagen, Friedrichs had studied under Jens Juel who was part of the movement “Sturm and Drang” (Storm and Stress). This movement painted storms at sea or on the coast and often showed shipwrecks in a pre-romantic way. In the 2010 Radio 4 program (BBC, 2010) presented by Melvyn Bragg explored the whole of Sturm and Drang. This program looked at each part of the arts and discussed their part in this Romantic Movement.
In music composers, Mozart and Haydn are huge names within the movement writing soaring pieces of music that have stood the test of time. More angry young men producing art to counter the destruction of industry.
Henri Fuseli Falstaff Kunsthalle Hamburg 1792
Claude Vernet Storm on the Mediteranean Coast J.P. Getty Museum 1798.
Jens Juels Joseph Greenaway National Gallery London 1786
Jens Juel The dance in the glade at Sorgenfri Statens Museum For Kunst Copenhagen 1800.
Jens Juel Landscape with Northern Lights NY Glypotek 1790.
In Painting, Henri Fuseli was painting scenes from Shakespeare’s plays such as Falstaff (Fuseli 1792). Claude Joseph Vernet painted shipwrecks one being “A storm on the Mediterranean Coast” (Vernet, 1767). Jens Juel painted Joseph Greenaway (Juel, 1789) a portrait of a man who doesn’t quite fit the romantic movement but he then produced “The dancing glade at Sorenfri” (Juel, 1800) a painting of a glade just north of Copenhagen painted with the divine in mind. Later he painted “Landscape with Northern Lights” (Juel, 1836) a painting that connects the divine with natural phenomena and the land.
Casper David Friedrich Cross in the Mountain Gallery Nieu Dresden 1808.
Friedrichs completed his first major work in 1808. Cross in the Mountain (Friedrich, 1808). The painting shows the crucifixion of Christ in a different way. Before paintings of the crucifixion had the human figures as the main subject of the painting. Here the landscape is the main part with the crucifixion being smaller. It is the divine within the landscape. Siegel says “Logical climax of many other drawings of his in which he depicted a cross in nature’s world” (Siegel, 1978).
The German Lawyer and Art Critic Bascilus Von Ramdohr (Zeitung die elegant Walt, 1809), questioned landscape entering the church stating “Indeed it is a truly presumptuous thing, that Landscape Painting should try to slither into our churches and clamber onto our altars,”. Friedrichs counters this with “The ray of sunlight compares to the Light of the holy father”. This is the one and only time I can find Friedrich explaining his art?
In 1810 the Crown Prince of Prussia purchased several of Friedrichs work, shortly after these purchases Friedrich was elected a member of the Berlin Academy. This relationship and election reinforced his position within Germanic art.
In 1816 Friedrich applied for citizenship of Saxony this was a surprise as Saxony was pro-French. He acquired this citizenship in the same year sponsored by his friend Graf Virthum von Eckstart.
Casper David Friedrich Chalk Cliffs on Rugen Museum Oskar Reinhart Stuttgarten 1818.
Friedrich married Caroline Bummer with whom he had three children. At this point, he began showing more human figures in his work such as “Chalk cliffs on Rugen” (Friedrich, 1818). This painting is playful and shows three characters on the cliff perhaps retrieving a lost hat that has blown over the cliff. It shows the people from the back. This style is called Rückenfigur or figure from the rear. The painting was painted on their honeymoon and celebrates their marriage.
In later life, he met the Poet Vasily- Zukovsky who tutored Alexander II. They became good friends Alexander said of Friedrichs work “They please us by their precision, each awakening a memory in our mind” (Vaughn, 1980).
In 1835 Friedrich suffered a major stroke which left him paralyzed. He sold earlier works to allow him to convalesce in Czechoslovakia. He died on May 7th, 1840.
That covers his life now let’s consider his work.
Friedrich moved the landscape to the backdrop to human behavior. He employed the Rückenfigur to do this.
Casper David Friedrich Sea of Ice Kunsthalle Hamburg 1824.
This puts the viewer of the painting, in the painting, understanding what the Rückenfigur is seeing. “The sublime potential of nature, understanding that the scene is as perceived and idealized by a human”
(Prettejohn, 2005). Friedrich filled his landscapes with romantic meaning. “Die Romantische Stimmongscansschaft” (Beenken, 1938). His life experiences with death and loss meant his work reflected these losses. Perhaps he was thinking of his own mortality it would not be a surprise when you look at “Sea of Ice” to think of his brother falling through the ice to drown.
Max Ernst Ubu Imperator, Musee d Art Moderne Paris 1923
Edvard Munch The Lonely Ones Munch Museum Oslo 1935.
His work was influential notably to Johan Christian Dahl, Arnold Bocklin, Max Ernst and Edvard Munch. If you see Paul Nash work “Totes Mares” (Nash, 1940) a sea formed by Nazi warplanes you can see the influence of Friedrichs work “Sea of Ice”.
Anslem Keifer Fig 4 Occupations Tate Modern London 1969.
The Nazis claimed Friedrichs work and used it to reflect Germanic ideals. Hitler under his slogan “Blood and Soil” connected Nazism with the landscapes of many German artists. This meant Friedrichs work lost its popularity and didn’t regain recognition until the 1970s. In summer and autumn 1969 Anslem Kiefer completed a series of photographs showing ruined places with Keifer performing a Sieg Heil salute. This was controversial at the time as it would be now. One photo “Occupations” (Keifer, 1969) clearly reflects Friedrichs “Wanderer above a sea of fog”. This work helped regain public attention.
If the Nazis had understood the hidden meaning of the painting, Friedrich was showing someone in awe of the divine light feeling beneath the divine. The Nazis saw someone in uniform above Nature in control. This is the danger when you release work with subtle meaning it is left open to interpretation.
Caspar David Friedrich Wanderer above the sea of fog Kusthalle Hamburg 1800
The “Wanderer above a sea of fog” Shows a man on a rocky crag looking at trees shrouded by fog with an air of confidence. His hair is blown by the wind. He leans on a stick to support himself against the wind. The man wears the uniform of the volunteer rangers of the Saxony Army. This uniform was banned at the time as it was the uniform of the opposing army of Napoleon.
I see a man contemplating an uncertain future. Others think he is contemplating the divine. I think he has seen beauty in nature and he has frozen for a moment to take it all in. At first glance, it appears the painting locks us out with the figure showing us his back. However, this draws the eye into the picture as I want to explore the scene he is looking at.
The painting is unusual as it is painted in a portrait format this is done to emphasize the height of the man and the landscape. The landscape is shown with pinks and blues, the light in the valley seems to be from below this would be unusual almost divine. The green coat on the man repeats the green in the trees.
It makes the painting more mysterious, I want to know who he is? What he has seen? What is out of the frame? I have looked at this painting hundreds of times and I still don’t see the answers which makes me want to look again.
I see Friedrichs influence in the work of Alec Soth he puts a lone figure in the center of a lot of his work. In an environment that makes the person. Showing them having a divine moment. Whilst they are not taken from behind the person the influence is there to see. Soth wants to identify the person more, so shows them from the front looking straight at you.
Alec Soth, Joshua, Angola Prison, LA 2002
Thomas Struth took a series of large photos in Art Galleries across Europe in the 1980s (Struth, 1990). He had seen a photo of an art critic who was looking at a book of Art images. The photo spoke about peoples reaction to art and Struth went to his local gallery and started to take images of members of the public starting at paintings in a gallery all from behind. He wanted to show the connection between the almost religious reaction we have when we engage with art. His work shows the relationship between the Photographer and the viewer, The viewer and the art work and the camera and the whole scene. Whilst my images are of the scenery of Antarctica the premise is much the same.
Thomas Struth Art Institute of Chicago II 1990,
Works Cited
BBC (Composer). (2010). Sturm und Drung. [M. Bragg, Conductor] London, UK.
Beenken, H. (1938). Romantic Meaning. The Burlington magazine for connoseurs , 171-175.
Ernst, M. Ubu Imperator. Musee d Art Moderne, Paris. 1923.
Friedrich, C. D. Cross in the mountains. Galerie Nieu, Dresden, Germany.
Juel, J. Joseph Greenaway. National Gallery , London, UK.
Juel, J. Landscape with Northern Lights. Carlsberg Glypotek, Copenhagen, DK.
Juel, J. The Dancing Glade at Sorenfri. Staten Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen.
Kiefer, A. Occupations. Tate Modern, London.
Munch, E. The Lonely Ones, Munch Museum Oslo 1935.
Nash, P. Totes Mares. Tate Modern, London, England.
Prettejohn, E. (2005). Beauty and art (1750-2000). In E. Prettejohn, Beauty and art (pp. pp54-56). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Ramdohr, B. V. (1809). Article criticising Cross in the mountain. Zeitung für die elegante , 17-21.
Rasbeck, J. (n.d.). University of Oxford. Retrieved 05 21, 2020, from Boydell and Brewer: HTTPS://dot.org/10.1017/9781787444379.013
Siegel, L. (1978). Casper David Friedrich and the age of German romanticism. In L. Siegel, Casper David Friedrich and the age of German romanticism (pp. p55-56). Boston: Branden Publishing Co.
Soth, A. (2002). Joshua, Angola Prison, LA, 2002. Sleeping by Mississippi. Mack Publishing 2004.
Struth, T. 1990 Thomas Struth.MoMA New York. Art Institute of Chicago 1990.
Vaughn, W. (2004). Friedrich. In W. Vaughn. London: Oxford Phaidon Press.
Vaughn, W. (1980). German Romantic Painting. Yale, USA: New Haven, Yale University Press.
Vernet, C. J. A Storm on the Mediteranian Coast. JP Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA.
My tutor suggested Japanese Stab Binding the book. I will be honest this technique was something I had never even heard of. However I like a challenge so accepted it with a little trepidation.
During my feedback of Assignment 4 my tutor discussed my approach to Assignment 5. As it was going to be impossible to send in prints of my photographs due to CoVid19 and the lock down he set me the challenge of completing a photobook. The goal of this book would be me taking control of the whole process. From inception through taking the images and finally producing the book.
After the conversation, I quickly logged onto Google researching what would be involved, on first reading filled the process filled me with dread. There seemed to be many skills that would stretch me to the limit. I liked the fact that I would learn a new skill and if applied efficiently I would produce something that should be tactile and pleasing to finish.
I considered what the outcome should be. I wanted the cover of the book to show the painting that had inspired this piece of work. I did not want to just stick the paper to the front cover, so researched creating a window in the cover to show it to its best advantage.
Next I considered the paper. Everything I read said not to use paper that is too thick and not to place too many pages in the book so it opens properly when the viewer looks at it. I wanted a decent quality print so decided to use 275g matte print paper and 250g black card for the cover.
I tried to source the tools but the postage and packaging were prohibitive. Amazon came to the rescue with a bookbinding kit that included all the equipment I would need. I sourced the paper from a local art shop. I also purchased good quality paper glue from the art shop to construct the cover.
Book Binding Equipment needed to complete this project.
Whilst I waited for the tools to arrive I designed a stencil for A4 paper including the window for the cover. This involved measuring in publisher 1 1/2 inch border from the left edge. As I was producing a four hole bind I divided the edge into four sections. Then drawing two lines across the rectangles I placed the marks for the holes that would be punched later. when the tools arrived I printed this onto 300g photo paper. This stencil needs to be robust therefore I printed it on thicker paper to help it survive the process. This page will not go into the finished book.
I made the cover by using the stencil to mark the edges of the window on the black card. Then using a razor blade and being very careful I sliced the lines and cut the window in the cover. I trimmed the print of the painting ½ an inch bigger than the aperture I had just created. Using the glue I fixed the painting to the aperture. Then placed the second piece of Black card and glued that to the reverse being careful to align everything before pressing together. I left this under a weighted board overnight to fix it firmly into its position.
Stencil for the cover.
I printed the edited photos and set these aside until later, so they would be ready when the tools arrived.
Finally, the box tools arrived and I set aside a morning to stitch the book together. Using the bulldog clips to hold the pages together I made the holes in 5 pages at a time. I had to punch four holes in each page. With the covers and the map, I had 20 pages so I had to repeat this process four times.
My tutor had given me a tip to use a drill to make the holes in the pile. I wasnt confident enough to drill on our dining table. I liked using the traditional method of making the holes with the awl.
When this process was complete I began stitching the pages together. I have read many pages describing how to make these stitches. I did not understand many of the described techniques. I found it easier to follow the diagrams I found on the website of Portsmouth University written by Jackie Batey, these were very clear and illustrated (Batey, 2014). Here is the link to the page for you to follow her methods.
Here are the photos of the process of making my book.My finished book complete with painting in window.
When the stitches were finished I used the bone tool from the kit to tuck the final knot tidily away within the inner pages out of sight.
Finishing with a bit of tidying up and gentle cleaning of scuffs the book is finished. I was nervous before starting but found the whole process rewarding. The final product is very satisfying, holding the book, and looking at the pictures is wonderful.
For a self determined project. Work influenced by the work Casper David Friedrich.
My name is Michael Green I am a level 2 student with The Open College of the Arts. I have been interested in photography since attending college in my teens. I spent hours in the college library looking at photography books. The ones that interested me most linked photography with Art. This interest has led me to try to make images inspired by the artist Casper David Friedrich. Whilst Friedrich had the luxury of painting in a studio I had to work with alacrity. The moment my subject interacted with the sublime landscape lasted only a second meaning I had to be ready, in situ, camera set to capture the image within the second the subject reacts.
Recently I have been fortunate to visit Antarctica. I have endeavoured to capture the scale of the landscapes in Antarctica with varied success. Whilst thinking about these landscapes I saw people having a spiritual experience as they observe the scale of this place. These spiritual moments made me think of Casper David Friedrichs painting “The wanderer above the sea of fog”. This painting depicts a person having a reaction to the landscape before them. I see this same reaction in many of the people who witness the landscape in this polar place.
I find it fascinating watching people taking selfies as I did for a previous module in a past course. Equally beguiling is the way this landscape has the power to stop you in your tracks. I used my compact camera allowing me to carry it wherever I went and enabling me to quickly deploy it to capture these moments so I can share them with you.
Work inspired by the work of Caspar David Friedrich.
All the time I was away I planned on showing my work in a large book printed by Blurb. My tutor challenged me to learn Japanese Stab Binding and make my own book so taking control of the whole process from beginning to end.
I planned to send the finished book to my tutor but CoVid19 put a stop to this. As I returned from Antarctica the whole world was closing down. Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo were like scenes from a war film with coffee shops closing and people leaving as quickly as possible.
The problem I have of not being able to send my book to my tutor is a small one compared to the problems of others. I am glad I can find a solution to my insignificant problem by creating digital copies of my book.
My solution is to photograph the book I and send the images to show the book. I will also include the images as they are on my computer so you can see the images in more detail if you would like to. Finally, I include the contact sheets of the set of images I took with this project in mind.
For the other pages from my learning log here are the links to each page.
Response to Caspar David Friedrichs The wanderer above a sea of fog (Friedrich,
Photography is different to painting as the instrument captures what is in front of the lens, editing allows you to bring out the features within the photographs. Painting allows the artist to add features or change perspectives to apply the sublime to a drawing or painting. I tried to capture peoples reaction to a sublime scene in front of them. Friedrich could add people to the scene back in his studio. Creating rather than recording.
I have seen a spiritual reaction to the landscape in Antarctica. Not a religious spirituality but people in a wilderness setting being stopped in their tracks and responding to it by sitting or standing then staring, spending time taking in their feelings.
I have spoken to many of these people after they enjoyed their experience. People from all parts of the globe and of different faiths. They all use words that are related, insignificant, small, overwhelmed, amazed, moved and best of all transcendent. The way they just stop and stare makes me think of Friedrichs painting of the wanderer. One person who had terminal cancer and had only a short time to live said this experience had given their whole life meaning. They could leave this life now fully enlightened.
Friedrich said “All authentic art is conceived at a sacred moment and nourished in a blessed hour, an inner impulse creates it, often without the artist being aware of it”. (Friedrich, 1837). The painting certainly shows a sacred moment captured in time, I have certainly missed many of these moments just has the quote says.
The Theologian Ludwig Gothard Kosegarten who influenced Friedrich said “Nature is Christ’s Bible” (Kosegarten, 1815) again a religious connotation which I tried not to portray in my work.
Anslem Kiefer. Fig 4 Occupations Tate Modern London 1969.
It was easy for the Nazis to hijack Friedrichs work he showed Germanic themes, Aryan people looking at the distant horizon was employed to show Germany looking across difficult times to a brighter horizon. In the 1960s Anselm Kiefer completed “Occupations” (Kiefer, 1969) a body of work based on the Sieg Heil salute used by the Nazis. He posed at various relevant sites including one at the German coast which echoes “The Wanderer above the fog” (Friedrick, 1818). Keifer who had seen the romantic in the ruined cities after the war countered what the Nazis brought to Germany. I certainly didn’t want to portray these ideals.
My work consists of 15 exposures taken from 60 shots taken. They are influenced by Friedrichs work but not copies of it. I wanted to capture the feeling not the painting. When I proposed this work initially my tutor encouraged me not to produce a photobook but to take control of the whole process. He suggested Japanese Stab Binding.
This meant I had to learn a new skill and after practising by making a small notebook I progressed to producing the A4 book for this assignment. I enjoyed this learning immensely and I like the finished book. I even made a window for Caspar David Friedrichs painting to feature.
Both my tutor and I like maps so it seemed sensible to include a map of where the images were taken. I added a page of text to give the viewer some idea of where the inspiration for the work had come from before they looked at the finish result.
I enjoyed the whole process but seeing people experiencing the landscape was the most enjoyable. Placing myself where I thought people would stop and then waiting made me think of Henri Cartier Bresson and the decisive moment. Then back at home, the process of producing the book was extremely satisfying.
If I was to approach this work again I would think more about lighting. The weather was not kind to me with many overcast skies. However with the right setting on my camera they add a mood to the exposures. I didn’t include the exposures that showed a man who stripped to his underpants and sat down in the snow and cried. Or the skateboarder who got out his board and did jumps from a rock. They didn’t fit the brief of the Rucksfigur. Finally I change the painting on the cover by changing it from a portrait layout to a 3:2 Landscape format, this takes away from the height Caspar David Friedrich wanted to portray in his painting.
If I was to change anything I would change the weight of the paper I used to a lighter figure. The thickness of the paper restricts opening the book. It doesn’t restrict when observing the book normally. However when I photographed the pages it was hard to get the paper to lay flat meaning the photographs of the work have a distortion. This is only a small thing caused by not being able to send the work in for looking at normally.
I feel the finished work achieves the things I set out to achieve. Showing the spiritual experience that nature gives. Without affecting the adventure the subject was enjoying. The finished book feels right and shows the exposures as I envisioned at the start. Opening each page shows a new experience, a new reaction or a new adventure.
Works Cited
Friedrich, C. D. The Wanderer above the sea of fog. Kunsthalle, Hamburg.
The objective of my work is to show people affected by the polar landscape they are experiencing.
What
A series of photographs in which the subject is immersed in the landscape. These photographs will be inspired by Caspar David Friedrich’s work “Wanderer above the sea of fog”.
How and why
Through digital photography I will show people immersed in the landscapes of Antarctica. I want to show people who have been affected by the spectacular scenes in front of them. These people will have shown some kind of reaction to the vista, some stand, a lot are forced to sit and contemplate. All will have shown some kind of reaction to the big landscape they are part of, I will have to employ a degree of patience to obtain these images.
Wider Context
I have taken many photographs in this region and most don’t do justice to how the landscape makes you feel. Friedrich wanted to show the sublime in his landscapes, in fact, he wanted to display the moment the sublime effects a person. He captured the sublime in “The Sea of ice” and this painting was one of the first to depict a polar scene. It shows an untouched icy landscape so isn’t the same as the work I want to create. Later he employs a “Rückenfigur” a figure shown from behind looking into the scene, I will employ the same method as Friedrich’s to try to show how its splendour makes you feel.
Influences
Friedrich’s has to be the biggest influence on my work. However Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz and Sebastian Salgado all have an influence on it as well. Adams captured images with great detail and gave a feeling of big spaces. Stieglitz showed winter scenes in the city and showed the difficulties of being cold and working in the snow. Salgado captured the landscape and the animals in the landscape of Antarctica. I want to add the element of a person or persons moved by either the landscape and/or animals they are experiencing.
Output
A book of 17 prints 15 of which will be the photos, plus 1 map of locations plus 1 page outlining the work. To complete this work I will need to study Japanese Stab Book Binding. Page layout using Microsoft Publisher or equivalent. Printing techniques with newly acquired printer (these hours are not included in the budget below).
As we are locked down due to CoVid 19 I will show this in either a short time lapse video or perhaps a slideshow. I may consider both one time lapse showing the production process and a slideshow presenting the work.
Budget To produce my photo-book. The cost to produce a single publication for assessment.
Looking at “Towards Los Angeles” (Lange, 1937) has taken me on a journey. This journey had a starting point just enjoying Dorothea Lange’s photograph. Stops along the way included the New Deal, Roy Stryker and his methods of work. Jack Delano writes “Through these travels and the photographs I got to love the United States more than I could have in any other way” (Delano, 1942). My journey ends with an understanding of the catalyst that created this body of work.
I chose to review this photograph partly because it doesn’t show female subjects in a matriarchal role. Dorothea Lange was unfairly called the “Mother” of the group of photographers within the Farm Security Administration. Dorothea Lange was given this title as she showed mothers in a lot of her photographs. I disagree she showed strong female icons who were struggling to hold together their families. Florence Owens Thompson the primary subject in “Migrant Mother”, had just sold the tires from her car to put food on her children’s table. This was a lady doing whatever to keep her family intact and to my interpretation the use of ‘Mother’ is intended to reduce and oversimplify the importance of her role
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Looking at “Towards Los Angeles” I see two men travelling along a dusty road past a billboard which shows the advertising slogan “Next time try the train……..Relax”. Both men look like they couldn’t afford to take the train. They are walking a dusty road Highway 99 through a dark verge and a line of telegraph poles which form strong leading lines emphasising the distance travelled and the way to go to reach their destination. They are carrying their luggage by hand. Both wear hats shielding them from the sun hinted at with brown necks. The boot of the man on the right is raised making me feel it is a “decisive moment” in the style of Henri Cartier Bresson. Bresson’s photo “Behind the Gare Saint Lazare” (Bresson, 1932) shows the decisive moment of a man leaping across a puddle. The man’s foot is above the water separating him from the physical world it hints at movement in the instant. Neither of the men in Towards Los Angeles appears to be taking any notice of the billboard the punch line of the photograph. As I study this photograph I begin to wonder if it was staged.
Why include a Billboard? In February 1936 Walker Evans had taken “Framed houses and a billboard” (Evans 1936) followed a year later by Edwin Locke who took “Road sign near Kingwood, West Virginia”, (Locke, 1937). Lange took similar images along route 99 and would have been aware of all of the images taken by Evans and Locke as they were colleagues.
At the same time Margaret Bourke-White was in Kentucky not part of the FSA project. She saw a line of people, displaced by a flood, the people were queuing underneath a billboard she created “Kentucky Flood”, the billboard shows an all American white family with the slogan “Worlds Highest Standard of Living” then a second line stating “there’s no way like the American Way” (Bourke-White, 1937) a truly powerful image as it includes black people, waiting in line for relief from hunger. With a white family enjoy the American dream.
Concurrent to Bourke-White, Lange had been sent to document peoples living conditions along Route 99 in California. It is my interpretation that Lange must have been aware of these photographs as she worked with and was friends with Evans and Locke. Life magazine published “Kentucky Flood”. Around this time she took several shots showing billboards in the landscape but then she made several shots of Pea Pickers using bill boards as shelter. She made “Dispossessed” (Lange, 1937). This photo is less tidy and to me looks like it is a true record of the scene not staged at all.
A little later in the day she made “Towards Los Angeles”. The Billboards in all these exposure are for Southern Pacific Railway but all have different pictures and slogans. None would have been suitable for the two walkers shown in “Towards Los Angeles” as they all had too much of the clutter around the billboard.
Researching this photo took me to the Farm Security Administration. This organisation was formed as part of President Franklin Dwight Roosevelt’s, New Deal. The organisation was tasked with recording the plight of the agricultural population of the United States. Roy Stryker was employed to head the documentary department.
Roy Stryker was an academic specialising in economics. He applied his academic knowledge to his given task. He said “Our editors, I’m afraid, have come to believe that the photograph is an end in itself. They’ve forgotten that the photograph is only the subsidiary, the little brother, of the word” (Stryker, 1936). He realised that photographers with an artistic background would help him gather the images needed to support the written word. He was a firm believer that photographs supported written words and was only part of the truth to be shown.
Stryker had served in the infantry during World War One. This would have given him self discipline and could have been a part of creating his over bearing reputation. In 1964 Lange described his working practices thus “That freedom that there was where you found your own way, without criticism from anyone, was special. That was germane to that project. That’s the thing that is almost impossible to duplicate or find. Roy Stryker…had an instinct for what’s important. Its instinct. And he is a colossal watchdog for his people. If you were on the staff, you were one of his people, and he was a watchdog, and a good one” (Lange, 1964).
Much of the work I researched spoke about Stryker being a micro manager, who told his team of photographers what to read, where to go, the things to shoot and how to show them. I then found some examples of Stryker and his assistants taking a hole punch to exposures that they felt didn’t meet the brief. I found this shocking. In completing my research I found letters from Stryker (Library of Congress, Various dates) in which he talks about the cost of setting up shoots and questions such small amounts as $5 for travel. He was in control of every detail of his brief, supervising all parts of the work his team produced.
In an interview in 1997 Naomi Rosenblum the author of A History of women photographers (Rosenblum 1994) describes the FSA process “In common with other government agencies that embraced photographic projects, the FSA supplied prints for reproduction in the daily and periodical press. In that project photographers were given shooting scripts from which to work, did not own the negatives, and had no control over how the pictures might be cropped, arranged and captioned. There position was similar to that of photojournalists working for the commercial press – a situation that Evans and Lange found particularly distasteful” (Rosenblum, 1997 336-9).
Stryker frowned on manipulation of images evidenced by his reaction when Dorothea Lange removed a floating thumb from “Migrant Mother” (Lange, 1937) Stryker admonished her for doing so. However at this time many famous photographs were manipulated Josef Stalin had Nikolai Yezhov removed from a photograph taken at Moscow Canal (Getty Images, 1934) and Frank Hurley photographer on the Shackleton expedition removed a second boat from the famous “Rescue by the Yelco” (Hurley, 1916) a photograph taken of the crews rescue. He simply scratched the second boat from the negative to add drama. So manipulation was employed long before photoshop (Adobe, 1991).
The FSA produced 164,000 monochrome negatives. 77,000 were made into prints (Library of Congress, 2012). 664 colour prints were produced from 1600c negatives. They featured in the press and in magazines making the cover of Time and Life magazine to show the suffering to all people in the USA. They created a picture of the Great Depression and triggered social changes in both housing and working conditions across the states.
Roy Stryker receives a criticism, I see a man who was educated, focused and understood his brief totally. He also understood he needed to direct his team who were working remotely with little supervision. We live and work in an environment utilizing the internet to give us almost instant reaction to our work. Think of sports photographers they send photos from the stadia direct to their office, getting the image into print or online in seconds. Stryker’s team had to post film into their office taking days to reach Washington. Then the images were processed and a contact sheet would be returned to the practitioner to be captioned and returned. This process would take at least fourteen days. Stryker would need to micromanage this to control it.
Whilst completing my research I found several letters to and from Stryker one of which admonishes the photographer for duplicating the same image five times (Library of Congress, 2012). These negatives would need to be destroyed to save filing space. He also made decisions about exposures whether they were in focus and whether complied with the Governments brief. With 77,000 images to control the process would need to be efficient so the work process could be efficient. I think of my digital library and the issues I experience keeping it clearly catalogued.
All of this begs the question did he trust his team of highly experienced photographers to deliver the photographs he needed to deliver his brief?
I think Stryker trusted his team based on letters (Library of Congress, 2012) he had a tight rein on the shots he wanted from photographer’s who had just started working with the FSA and he gives a free rein to the local organisation to create an itinerary of shots with Dorothea Lange. If she had been given a strict set of instructions I feel Lange wouldn’t have produced “Towards Los Angeles”.
Early in the project Stryker would destroy unwanted exposures with a hole punch. Ben Shahn another FSA photographer said “Roy was a little bit dictatorial in his editing and he ruined quite a number of my pictures, which he stopped doing later. He used to punch a hole through a negative. Some of them were incredibly valuable” (Arbuckle, 2009). Evans and Lange were vociferous from the start about this issue. He listened to the concerns of the photographers stopping this later in the programme. Most of the photographers had protested against the destruction of their images.
In 1942 during WW2 the FSA was incorporated into the Office of War Information. Stryker employed Paul Vanderbilt to catalogue, improve and simplify access to these images. They arranged for the images to enter the Library of Congress, Vanderbilt went with them and continued his cataloguing work. Many would have just walked away job done, Stryker worked to ensure the collection not only was secured but was kept for all to see.
So far I have considered the way the FSA and Stryker organised the brief to gather the shots needed to support this national story. Discussing his dictatorial style, his prescriptive demands could have predisposed the photographers such as Lange to stage their images. If she did would it matter? I don’t think so. Lange had been tasked with showing the gap between the haves and have not’s. This photograph achieves that.
Arthur Rothstein staged some of his scenes for the FSA. Photographs that captured the workers suffering supported the word. Stryker was overbearing, however he recognized his team’s strengths and allowed them some freedom after he had guided them, if they strayed he would not allow the work to progress. He kept tight rein on the purse strings and wanted control of everything from beginning to end. His military background coupled with his academic disciplines gave him the skills to do this. He was the catalyst behind this great project. Without him it would have been quite different, then at the end of the project he ensured its preservation for future generations to view.
This journey has taken me to many stops before I arrived at my destination. Critiquing “Towards Los Angeles” has allowed me to discover the workings of the FSA under Stryker. Without Roy Stryker this collection would probably not exist. We certainly would not have such a concise collection to view and revere.
Bourke-White, M. The Louisville Flood. Art and Artists. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Bresson, H. C. Behind Gare Saint Lazarre. MoMa, San Francisco.
Delano, J. a. (1965, June Puerto Rico). Oral history interview with Jack and Irene Delano, 1965 June 12. (R. Doud, Interviewer)
Evans, W. Houses and Billboards in Atlanta. Art and Artists. Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Hurley, F. Rescue by the tug Yelco. South. London.
Lange, D. Disposessed. Office of War Collection. Library of Congress, Washington.
Lange, D. Migrant Mother. Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California. Library of Congress, Washington.
Lange, D. Towards Los Angeles. FSA Photographs. Library of Congress, Washington.
Rosenblum, N. (1994). A History of Women in Photography. New York: Abbeville Press.
Rosenblum, N. (2010). A history of women photographers. In N. Rosenblum, A history of women photographers (pp. 336-339). New York, London and Paris: Abbeville Press.
Southern Pacific Railroad. (1937, March). San Francisco, California, USA.
Unknown. Josef Stalin Group at Moscow Canal. Josef Stalin Great Purge Photo Retouching. Fine art images/Heritage Images/Getty Images and AFP Group, Chicago.
Walther, P. (2008). New Deal Photography. Koln: Taschen.
Walther, P. (2008). New Deal Photography. In P. Walther, New Deal Photography (pp. 18-19). Koln: Taschen. Wells, L. (2015). Photography a critical introduction. London and New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.
Michael Green Landscape Studies 