The pictorialism movement began shortly after the introduction of photography, in which photographers aimed to reinvent photography as a form of fine art. It started around 1850, in which William John Newton first introduced the idea, that “photography could also be artistic”. These photographs used some sort of manipulation of an original photo to produce a mood and create a story inside a photo. Pictorialists used the lenses of cameras as their “canvas” for art, using techniques such as soft focus, color tinting, double exposure, and special printing methods to manipulate their photographs. The most famous variation of them was blurring the lenses, which would add on a mysterious mood to the original. A classical example of a pictorialist photograph is “The Pond-Moonlight” created by Edward Steichen in 1904, in which he manually applies light sensitive gum to make the final print colorful.
“The Pond-Moonlight”–Edward Steichen
Differentiating largely from pictorialism, straight photography emphasizes using the camera’s mechanical abilities themselves to take photographs and respects its abilities to produce the art, and became popular exactly due to this reason. The produced images are sharp in focus, rich in detail, and don’t manipulate the original photos by adding further adjustments. It can also be said, that straight photography later influenced abstract photography.
“The Steerage”– Alfred Stieglitz
Edward Weston and Aaron Siskind are both deeply influenced by straight photography. We can see, that their images pay attention to clarity and details of their subjects, and are well in focus. Even though not adding further filters, their photographs are rich visually, and are composed perfectly to create feeling, showing the powerful feeling realistic photos can bring to the audience.
Both Andrea Gursky and Uta Barth produce absract photographs, however, of 2 completely different styles. Gursky uses the straight photography method and theme, with his images sharp in focus and rich in small details, which work together to form his images. On the other hand, Barth adds a more pictorialist touch to her photos, commonly blurring her photographs let them have a dreamy feel to the audience.
“Toys ‘R’ Us”–Andrea Gursky
“Field #20”–Uta Barth
Works Cited
Field #20. www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/barth-field-20-t07627. Accessed 6 Sept. 2025.
“Pictorialism.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/movement/pictorialism/. Accessed 3 Sept. 2025.
The Pond-Moonlight. www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/106NQC. Accessed 3 Sept. 2025.
The Steerage. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/267836. Accessed 3 Sept. 2025.
“Straight Photography.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/movement/straight-photography/. Accessed 3 Sept. 2025.
Toys “R” Us. www.andreasgursky.com/en/works/1999/toys-r-us. Accessed 3 Sept. 2025.