Charles Baudelaire: Contrast Between Photography And Art

Charles Baudelaire drew a sharp contrast between photography and art. He felt that photography should be used mainly for documentary purposes. As he once said" let the photograph quickly enrich the travelers album, and restore to his eyes the precision his memory may lack; let it adorn the library of the naturalist, magnify microscopic insects, even strengthen, with a few facts the hypothesis of the astronomer; let it, in short, be the secretary and a record keeper of whomsoever needs absolute material accuracy for a professional reason". He viewed photography as a mechanical process inferior to art and science, and devoid of sentiments and natural beauty. He believed photography can produce only hideous results. He saw photography as encroaching
on and endangering art. If photography was allowed to assist art is some way, soon, he feared, it would corrupt it. In his view, Photography only function was to support intellectual enquiry. In comparison to art, photography served the role of a humble made.