Photographythrough the lens of:

Ray K. Metzker

Harry Callahan

Aaron Siskind

Presentation by Sonia Hankova, s3917102

Modernism

• Late 19th, beginning 20th century – the tradition of the new

• Alternative ways of interpreting reality

• Despises traditional genre and form

• Contains elements of de-creation as well as creation, modifying or overturning existing modes of representation

• Aesthetically radical, striking technical innovations, emphasis on spatial as opposed to chronological form

• Experimental, formally complex, extreme, obscure, interpreting and changing, abstract, introspective

• Notions of artist’s freedom from realism, materialism

• Notions of cultural apocalypse and disaster, ironic models, dehumanisation of art

Ray K. Metzker1931-

‘Why one picture stands out among many others is always a mystery. In the beginning the subject is never quite known, but in the course of working something shows up on the film or in the print that speaks to me. I can never predict when this will happen. However, when it does there is an excitement—there is the ecstasy of recognition. And this is one of the things that keeps me going.’

~ Ray K Metzker

History

• 1931 - Born in Milwaukee, USA

• Began to take photographs at the age of 14

• 1956-1959 Institute of Design, Chicago – Photography

• Mentored by Henry Callahan and Aaron Siskind

• Teaching career:

• 1962-1980 Philadelphia College of Art

• 1970-1972 University of New Mexico

• 1980-1983 Columbia College Chicago

• 1983 left teaching in order to photograph full time

Metzker’s titles and groups his works based on their location and technique;

His most significant bodies of work are:

• 1956-1959 Chicago

• 1960-1961 Europe

• 1961-1964 Early

Philadelphia

• 1964-1969 Double Frames

and Couplets

• 1964-1984 Composites

• 1968-1977 Sand Creatures

• 1971-1980 Pictus

Interruptus

• 1980-1983 City Whispers

• 1985-1986 Landscapes

• 1996-2009 Late

Philadelphia

Untitled, Chicago 19595 ¾ x 8 ¾” Gelatin Silver printprinted 1985, Edition Number: 8/28

Chicago, 1959 10 x 8” Vintage gelatin silver print Signed on verso, One of two known vintage prints

Frankfurt, Germany, 1961 8 x 10" vintage silver print, Edition 25

• Major American museums started showing his work in the 1960s

• During the 60’s he shifted away from single frames, his curiosity led him to experiment with high contrast, selective focus and multiple prints in various forms of repetition and on a increased scale

• Highlights and shadows are pushed to extremes in multiple frames, combined in innovative ways

• Whether documenting everyday life in an urban environment or experimenting with nature and landscapes, Metzker’s photographs always include elements of abstraction

• Encourages the use of experimental techniques to push the medium beyond documentation

• His photographs create a graceful choreography of human interaction against urban settings

Philadelphia, Penn Center, 1965 6 x 6"" silver print

Philadelphia1965(Double Frame)10 x 8" Gelatin silver printEdition 25

Philadelphia1965(Double Frame) Gelatin silver print(printed 1984)

Parking Pavilion 1967Composite of 14 mounted prints30 x 22” Signed on rectoUnique

Nude1966/1985Composite of 7 mounted prints32 x 21” Signed on recto#13/20 (only 14 completed)

Pictus Interruptus: Mykonos, Greece, 1979printed 1989, Gelatin silver print.

Philadelphia, 1983 From the series City Whispers14 x 11" silver print, Edition 30

Recognition

• Recognised as one of the great masters of American photography, a virtuoso who has passionately pursued his chosen medium for over 60 years.

• He was known for his luminous black and white images that feature subjects ranging from cityscapes to landscapes and nature, all demonstrating the inventive potential of the photographic process.

• As well as for his large ‘composites’ – assemblages of printed strips and single frames.

• His extraordinary photographs strike an instinctive balance between formal brilliance, optical innovation and deep human regard for the objective world.

Harry Callahan1912-1999

‘ I wish that more people feltthat photography was an adventure the same as life itself and felt that their individual feelings were worth expressing. To me, that makes photography more exciting’

~ Harry Callahan

Detroit 1943

Detroit 1943

Chicago 1948 Chicago 1948

Eleanor, Chicago 1952

Eleanor, Chicago 1954Eleanor, Chicago 1952

Aix-en-Provence 1958 Aix-en-Provence 1958

Aaron Siskind1903-1991

‘As photographers, we must learn to relax our beliefs. Move on objects with your eye straight on, to the left, around on the right. Watch them grow large as they approach, group and regroup as you shift your position. Relationships gradually emerge and sometimes assert themselves with finality. And that's your picture’

~ Aaron Siskind

The Harlem Document, 1938-1940

Unnamed, 1940s

Terrors and Pleasures of Levitation, The Divers, 1972Gelatin silver print

"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever. It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything”~ Aaron Siskind

References:

Aaron Siskind Foundation (n.d). Aaron Siskind Foundation, New York, viewed 9 April 2013, http://www.aaronsiskind.org/index.html

Art Blart (n.d.). Art Blart: Art Blog by Dr Marcus Bunyan, viewed 9 April 2013, http://artblart.com/2010/06/21/exhibition-harry-callahan-american-photographer-at-the-museum-of-fine-arts-boston/

Callahan, H. (1984). Eleanor, The Friends of Photography, Callaway Editions, New York.

Childs, P. (2000). Modernism, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, London and New York.

Davis, D. (1993). Photography as Fine Art, Thames and Hudson, London.

Laurence Miller Gallery (2012). Laurence Miller Gallery, New York City, viewed 9 April 2013, http://www.laurencemillergallery.com/artist_metzker.htm

Modrak, R. & Anthes, B. (2011). Reframing Photography: Theory and Practice, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, London and New York.

Museum of Modern Art (1979). Aaron Siskind: Photographs 1932-1978, Museum of Modern Art London/Zwemmer, London.

Mutual Art Services (2013). Mutual Art, viewed 9 April 2013, http://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Untitled—Chicago-/EA5B31E35EB85480

Rosenblum, N (2007). A World History of Photography, 4th edn., Abbeville Press, New York.

The J. Paul Getty Museum (n.d). The J. Paul Getty Museum, Exhibitions: Ray K. Metzker’s Photographic Journey, viewed 9 April 2013, http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/metzker/metzker.html

Turner, P. ed. (1985). American Images: Photography 1945-1980, Penguin Books, Middlesex, England.

Zhang, M. (2012). Peta Pixel, Study of Light Shaddows and Framing: Street Photography by Ray K. Metzker, viewed 9 April 2013, http://petapixel.com/2012/12/21/a-study-of-light-shadows-and-framing-street-photos-by-ray-metzker/