The Pictorialism movement is a photography revolution that took place between 1885-1915 where Pictorialists “took the medium of photography and reinvented it as an art form”, placing artistic elements like tone, beauty, composition and others above creating accurate visuals. (The Art History) The straight photography movement was a revolution where people focused on the camera’s technical ability to produce images that has “sharp in focus and rich in detail.” (The Art History) It was popular among artists because straight photography allows the photography “to be appreciated for the reality it captures in a pure way.” (Temple University)

Edward Wetson was inspired by the Straight Photography Movement as he “started to sharpen the straight photography way of taking pictures” before traveling to New York. (VOA) Similarly, Aaron Siskind was also influenced by the movement as he offered an important model for other photographers by constructing compositions based on the outside world instead of documenting poignant events.

This photo by of Andreas Gursky shows abstract as we can see that there isn’t a specific subject that is being focused on. In this work specifically, the “random” roads like lines going all over the place is what makes this picture abstract since it losses any possible focus on a specific object/subject.

This photo by Uta Barth shows abstract as we can see that the image is blurred and does not have a specific focus point. In this work specifically, the blurry shot makes it impossible to determine a focus, therefore this picture is abstract, and rather enjoyable from another point of view.

These two artists should not be classified as neither pictorial nor straight. This is because they photos vary a wild range of techniques, therefore making it hard to fit them in a specific group. Looking at these two examples alone however, Andreas should fit as a pictorlalist as his photo although being reality, does not document reality, and rather just shows complicated lines instead, perfecting inline with the concept of pictorialism. For Uta Barth, she fits a straight photographer because she uses the camera’s focus to create a blurry image, which fits into the concept of the “technical ability” of straight photography.

Sources:

https://www.theartstory.org/movement/pictorialism/

https://www.theartstory.org/movement/straight-photography/

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/a-23-2006-11-07-voa1-83128062/125522.html#:~:text=In%20Mexico%2C%20Edward%20Weston%20started,true%20nature%20of%20his%20subjects

https://ccp.arizona.edu/artists/aaron-siskind#:~:text=His%20work%20offered%20an%20important,rather%20than%20documenting%20poignant%20events