Interpreting: Gla 625: History Of Photography

Markelle Palombo
GLA 625: History of Photography
Lisa Levine
Fall 2014

Take Home Final Exam

In the following essay, I will look at 6 plates from the Rosemblum text of selected photographers and classify their work using the following categories for interpreting photographs found in Terry Barrett’s Criticizing Photographs:
1) Descriptive
2) Explanatory
3) Interpretive
4) Ethically Evaluative
5) Aesthetically Evaluative
6) Theoretical

I will explain why I have placed each of these images in such categorization. I will then go on to discuss, in my personal yet humble opinion why I believe or do not believe it makes for a successful photograph.
I will also discuss the value (if any) the image holds in being pictured in a historical textbook
such as Rosemblum and connect this information to the historical movement I would classify this photograph in.
After going through all 6 photographs I will close with my own personal thoughts on photography and what it enables us (the viewer) to see or not see given the human circumstance. Thereafter, I will bring in my own work and categorize using Berrett’s system of interpretation.
The following plates will be reviewed from Rosemblum’s History of Photography textbook: 1) Charles Sheeler, Industry, plate #585
2) Eve Sonneman, Oranges, Manhattan 1978, plate #743
3) Bernd and Hilla Becher, Winding Towers, plate #736
4) Aaron Siskind, New York No. 6, 1951, plate #664
5) Lynne Cohen, Corridor, plate #700
6) Mary Ellen Mark, Tiny in her Halloween Costume, Seattle, plate #689

Charles Sheeler, Industry
Charles Sheeler’s image,
Industry represents a time during the Industrial Age when Ford was massproducing machinery and assembly lines were moving at a constant rate.
Sheeler’s work can be placed in the Aesthetically Evaluative category due to the symmetry and balance in the photograph. The shapes and lines crisscross and work together to form a well-composed photograph.
A second category to place Industry in would be Descriptive because this photograph has a certain sense of style that we cannot deny.
A third category is Explanatory because the image depicts a certain era of time that significant in the history books. This era is the Industrial Age in America.
Explanatory photographs are intended to document a certain way of life.
Charles Sheeler’s Industry certainly earns a place in the history books not only because of this balance/symmetric sense of style shown in the image but it illustrates how the use of space or lack of can really accent the photograph as a whole and make it aesthetically pleasing to the eye. On the same note, during this time great changes were occurring and manufacturing was booming so kudos to the photographer, Charles Sheeley, for not only capturing this in a documentary form but composing a beautiful image as well.
His work would be categorized in the era of Modernist photography because of his efforts in the 1920s and later. His work also depicts the great changes and during that time and changes that the Industrial Age brought about. You can see examples of this through his documentary photography of Henry Ford and his manufacturing lines.
Artists involved in photographing dramatic engineering and urban landscapes can be grouped together as Precisionists. Precisionists pay special attention t geometrical structures and have a smooth handling of surfaces. They have unexpected viewpoints in the sense of angle and the way they crop their picture.
Charles Demuth’s idea of Cubism-geometric shapes and overlapping planeswould be found in this Precisionist form and style.

Eve Sonneman, Oranges, Manhattan 1978

Eve Sonneman’s image can be interpretive in regards to addressing what the world views are in this photographer’s eyes. A category that could be used for interpreting this photograph would be Descriptive because the particular style works, being a diptych, and allows views to compare and interpret the two photographs. A second category could be Aesthetic because one looking at the photo and noting the color changes as far as shading goes on the person’s face, the change in action of the subjects in the photograph, and the existing question of
“what is going on right now?” in the photograph. I also appreciate the white line in the middle of the image as a whole making it a diptych. Today there is less room between the two photos and I like the style of this one.
Sonneman’s image falls into the modernistic era due to the stylistic properties as far as the alteration of the image and the comparison of each to each other. Eve
Sonneman’s success should never be discounted and embarking on these stylistic endeavors are worth printing in the history books because of the way it was altered.

Bernd and Hill Becher, Winding Towers

Bernd and Hilla
Becher’s Winding Towers is described to be art about art.
Thomas Seuth’s Musime
Photographs is similar to the
Bechers, as discussed in class.
A category I would classify this piece of work would be Theoretical photography because you can compare these structures to social class and hierarchy because of the nature in which the tower itself is structured. It is also said that art about art is classified as Theoretical.
Another category would be Explanatory because the photograph explains in a scientific sense by capturing these photos over a number of years and in doing so the photographers have created a typology of form. There is also a nice tonal range represented here so this image can also be categorized as stylistically sound or Descriptive because the piece “works”.
The work can be classified as Modernist art since they create typologies of form that challenge the traditional meanings of art.
Bernd and Hill Becher have rightfully earned their place in the history books because of the typology documented and their technique of which to gather the information over time.
All photographs are said to fit in the descriptive category, interpretive and theoretical, as stated in the onset of Terry Barrett’s Criticizing Photographs, chapter 4. Since all photographs give relatively accurate information of people, places and objects, they can technically fit in the descriptive category. Moreover, all photographs can fit in the interpretive category because most photographs interpret how the photographer interprets and sees the world. Finally all photographs are influenced by other art forms so these photographs can be placed in the theoretical category.

Aaron Siskind, New York No. 6
Aaron Siskin’s New York No. 6 is Aesthetically Evaluative because the lines and shapes and ongoing symmetry work together to create on cohesive piece of art.
This photograph looks similar to the one of Charles
Sheeler, Industry because has qualities of lines, shape and form and the importance of all of these aspects fitting into one aesthetically pleasing piece of work.
I feel the category of Theoretical is a fit category because it plays with perceptions of art and how the photographer interprets art but also provokes the viewer to question how the art was created.
The photograph looks more like a something created with paint or charcoal and less likely produced with film.
Aaron Siskind, an Abstract Expressionist painter, emphasized experimentation and worked on color, multiple montages, and collages (Rosenblum 516). He was part of the post-war photograph trends in the United States. This group of artist espoused straight photography and therefore can be categorized in the
Modernist era.

Lynne Cohen, Corridor

Lynne Cohen, Corridor can be classified as
Aesthetically evaluative because you can see how the image was purposely framed cropped. I think this image ‘works’ and is successful.
This image is also categorized as Descriptive because of the artificial light and the detached distance from the subject matter pictured in the photograph. In looking at the crop of the image and how the image hold most of its weight on the right side of the photo, this image can be seen as Aesthetically evaluative because the photo is a success artistically with composition and style.
In saying this, I believe that this photograph should remain in the history books because it gives viewers positive insight on the importance of composition and plasticity (or the absence of) in photographs.

The era this type of art is seen in is the era of modernism and more specifically, contemporary surrealism.

Mary Ellen Mark, Tiny in her Halloween Costume

Mary Ellen Mark, Tiny in her Halloween Costume can be classified as Ethically Evaluative because it illustrates a certain time in this young girls life and how her life is affected by the neighborhood she lives in the peer pressure that surrounds her to fit in or not to fit in.
This photograph can also be considered Interpretive because this category covers the directorial nature of the photographer with its subject matter.
Mary Ellen Mark’s photograph can also be categorized as
Explanatory because the image can be viewed as a sociological or anthropological perspective because it is a visual study of a Seattle area using a very documentary style of photography.
This is a successful picture because it is aesthetically pleasing in that the photograph is very stylistic: the picture is in black and white so it gives off a moody vibe.
Mary Ellen Mark’s photograph should remain in the history books because it provides insight on how society was during this era and the poverty that some people had to live in.
Streetwise was produced during the Modernist/Post-Modernist era because the portrait is untraditional in the Pictorial sense. In other words, it’s not meant to be smoothing to the eye or flattering but more of a documentary style picture.

Personal Work
As a photographer, I must also be able to evaluate and categorize my own work.
Not only that but it’s important to identify as to WHY we capture certain images.
What is interesting about the pictures we create? If we can’t identify with or answer these questions, why would someone else care about the work or
find the photographs intriguing?
Photography enables us to see what we would not otherwise see.
A way of seeing that would be impossible without the camera. My work would be
Theoretical because I use the camera to collect data. Long exposures, collages or triptychs, etc are all about using the photograph and objectively collecting data. But my photography is more than just Theoretical in the sense I described above.
In order to place pieces of work in more than one category, you must interpret the photograph. To interpret a photograph is to figure what the photograph is about to the best of your ability then build an argument based on the evidence of our understanding.
The categories are overlapping. To be descriptive is to be explanatory and interpretive. And all art is based on prior influences.
I see these categories as a useful tool in studying the history of photography and without this foundation to build on, you can’t be a strong artist. In other words a strong artist knows why certain elements of an image draws the viewer to look at the image and actually study it. A real artist knows the rules of the game and knows when he/she can break those rules or respectfully abide by them. Finally a true artist creates out of the love of art and the act of creating
art.