Week 9- Is Photography Art?

Fig. 1: Slade 2019 The Rehearsal

"Photography is not Art.  It is not even an Art. Art is the expression of the conception of the idea. Photography is the plastic verification of a fact" (De Zayas, 1913, p125)

Baudelaire chastises photography and likens it to shorthand or print, which replicates only but neither creates nor supplements literature (1859).

Print and short hand are created by humans, using characterized symbols, the very same symbols with which the very same humans do supplement and create literature (sorry-not-sorry Baudelaire).

Photography may be a plastic replica (if shot with a very unbiased photographer, er... maybe a robot?) but otherwise the human element creates the conception.  Words are both replicas and literature.  Photography is both a trace and an ART.

The definition of ART mentions something about the creation of beauty, and the requirements of fine skill (Merriam-Webster 2019).  If photography is not art, then ice-cream is not a food.

If some one stops to look a little further, if they are distracted or engrossed even for a moment- then the piece of art has done its job.  In this way, photography is as much art as any other medium.





Figure 1. SLADE, Bren. 2019. The Rehearsal. Available at: www.brenslade.com
BAUDELAIR, Charles. 1859. On Photography- From the Salon of 1859. V&A [online] available at: https://www.csus.edu/indiv/o/obriene/art109/readings/11%20baudelaire%20photography.htm accessed [March 26 2019].
DE ZAYAS, Marius. 1913. 'Photography' in Trachtenburg in Alan 1980. Classic Essays on Photography. New Haven. Leete's Island Books.
MERRIAM-WEBSTER 2019. Definition of Fine Art. Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fine%20arts [accessed March 26 2019].