Artists important to photography

Barney

Barney

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I have been wondering which traditional artists are considered most important to photography?

I have been looking at some of Vermeer's work and it appears to me that there is lots we can take from his attitude to painting and apply to our photography today, I like his negative space and approach to the depth of his paintings.
 
May I suggest reading Gombrich?
 
Any particular edition you would recommend Stephen?
 
Barney said:
I have been wondering which traditional artists are considered most important to photography?

I have been looking at some of Vermeer's work and it appears to me that there is lots we can take from his attitude to painting and apply to our photography today, I like his negative space and approach to the depth of his paintings.
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Vermeer is meant to have used a camera obscura for his painting, so he was possibly using a "camera" before photographers were.

The result of this practice is that his, and others from that style of painting, have a "photographic" perspective which, as photographers, we can identify with.

I don't think there is definitive documentation on this, but there is lot of information around on the use of camera obscuras for painting.

You could start with this:

Vermeer and the Camera Obscura, Part One

An illustrated study of Vermeer and the camera obscura.
www.essentialvermeer.com

David Hockney’s Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters (2001) looks a really useful read on this. I haven't read it, but I watched the TV series it's based on.

Hockney's and Gayford's A history of pictures is a great read (I've read it twice) where he discusses the entire spectrum of picture-making, including photography and the use of camera obscuras.

What is equally interesting is the influence of photography on Impressionist painters. It's worth googling. There are many books and studies on this, but I can't easily suggest one at the moment.

I can't have an answer to your question actual question, but...

I find "Vermeer" type paintings to be very skilled, but not very inspirational. I'm not saying there aren't lessons we can learn from these paintings, but I am far more "visually" inspired by Impressionist and Japanese ink paintings such as Sumi-e https://japanobjects.com/features/sumie .
 
I've been suspicious of this type of discussion since I did "A" level art, to make up the compulsory three subjects (my other two were biology and chemistry).

I decided then that people who "know about art" are best ignored and that the real pleasure, that comes from looking at other peoples' work, is discovering it for yourself. One of the few people I've come across who can break this rule is Waldemar Januszczak, whose TV appearances, I find to be both amusing and informative.

For the most part then, I recommend looking for yourself and making up your own mind what pleases you.
 
I look at art that is similar to the kind of photography I want to do. So recently I've been looking at the work of Joseph Wright. It's similar to a lot of chiaroscuro, but brighter, more colourful, and less contrasty. The National Gallery has a current exhibition called Wright of Derby, which I'll toddle along to before it closes.
 
garryknight said:
I look at art that is similar to the kind of photography I want to do. So recently I've been looking at the work of Joseph Wright. It's similar to a lot of chiaroscuro, but brighter, more colourful, and less contrasty. The National Gallery has a current exhibition called Wright of Derby, which I'll toddle along to before it closes.
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Although, as I said, I'm not that keen on paintings of this "realistic" style, but I do think getting a feel for, and understanding of, chiaroscuro is useful for photographers.

I hadn't heard of Wright, so glad to have now had a look at some of his paintings.
 
Thanks for the great Links and reference of Interesting photographers!
 
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