The Pictorialism Movement (late 19th–early 20th century) represents an aesthetic of a photograph and the principles that are shown along with it. it emphasized photography as fine art, using soft focus, and painterly effects. it rejected manipulation, mainly focusing on un-altered realism and sharp details. Photographers like edward weston and aaron siskind were extremely influenced by the pictorialism movement. Wenstons photos consist of a lot of raw forms like shells, and different vegetables, whilst Siskind focused more patterns, shapes, and the urban environment. Other photographers, like uta barth and andreas gursky took abstraction to another level. Gursky’s art showed our environment and he experimented a lot with scale, and barths work focuses on light, space, and focus.

 

Alfred Stiegli