Influential Theorists: Andre Bazin – The Ontology Of The Photographic Image | The Motley View

7/24/2019 Influential Theorists: Andre Bazin The Ontology Of The Photographic Image | The Motley View

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Influential Theorists: Andre Bazin The

Ontology Of The Photographic Image

Posted on December 1, 2008byA.R. Duckworth

Andre Bazin is undoubtedly a famous figure in film criticism and film theory. Bazin was a co-founder

of the influential film magazine Cahiers du Cinema, a mentor and friend of Francois Truffaut and firm

supporter of realism. A large collection of Bazins writings were complied and published

posthumously and entitled What Is Cinema?. In a series of articles I will explore Bazins essays. Thefirst article will be:

The Ontology of the Photographic Image

If the plastic arts were put under psychoanalysis, the practice of embalming the dead

might turn out to be a fundamental factor in their creation. The process might reveal

that at the origin of painting and sculpture there lies a mummy complex. The religion

of ancient Egypt, aimed against death, saw survival as depending on the continued

existence of the corporeal body. Thus, by providing a defence against the passage of

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time it satisfied a basic psychological need in man, for death is but the victory of time.

To preserve, artificially, his bodily appearance is to snatch it from the flow of time, to

stow it away neatly, so to speak, in the hold of life. It was natural, therefore, to keep up

appearances in the face of the reality of death by preserving flesh and bone.

What Bazin is arguing here is that at the heart of the plastic arts painting and sculpture is a need

to make immortal the mortal; to turn the image of our flesh into clay, steel and paint is to transform

ourselves and preserve our being beyond its physical existence. Bazin is not, as some critics haveargued, asserting that all art is solelydefined by an attempt at immortalising the mortal. But that one

of the defining characteristics, or innate motivations, in the production of art and artefacts, be it the

mummification of Pharaohs, portraits of Kings and Emperors, is the preservation of life by a

representation of life. Bazins position is that the plastic arts, and I would also assert Bazins personal

opinion in what makes art attractive, attempts to have the last word in the argument with death by

means of the form that endures.

It should be noted that Bazin died at the age of forty and death stalked him continuously throughout

his life. Bazins attraction to realism, and an idea of art as a production of the eternal, seems

inherently linked to his psychological and physiological state. The attempt to cheat or outlast death

through the preservation of ones image and world seems very close to Bazin. As Bazin explains the

image helps us to remember the subject and to preserve him from a second spiritual death. Just like

F. Kafkas fiction, which is infused with fears of and struggles with consumption, Bazins conception

of the psychology of the plastic arts seems to be his own. That said the foundation of much art is

linked to attempts at ensuring an ever-lasting legacy. From statues, palaces, portraits to tombs

influential men have commissioned and produced art to represent themselves and the world they live

in.

Bazin explains that painting, attempting the production of realism, encountered a problem in

combining both the representation of the spiritual real or emotionally real and the representation of

the physical real. Bazin notes that painting can successfully represent the emotionally real but that

the reproduction of the physical real will always lean towards illusion. This illusion, I believe, to

Bazin meant the inability, of painting, to truly represent the outward appearances of things; a painting

of a cart doesnt really refer to a cart but rather refers to the painters painting of a cart. The cart refers

back to the painter and his paint. And to Bazin not only was this a flaw of painting, in its attempt at

reproducing reality, but also the main reason photography and film is so successful in the

reproduction of reality. Bazin explains Photography and the cinema on the other hand are

discoveries that satisfy, once and for all and in its very essence, our obsession with realism. No

matter how skilful the painter, his work was always in fee to an inescapable subjectivity. The fact that

a human hand intervened cast a shadow of doubt over the image is unavoidable. Film, in contrast

allowed, for the first time, allowed the image of the world to be:

formed automatically, without the creative intervention of man. The personality of the

photographer enters into the proceedings only in his selection of the object to

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be photographed and by way of the purpose he has in mind. Although the final result may

reflect something of his personality, this does not play the same role as is played by that of

his painter. All the arts are based on the presence of man, only photography derives an

advantage from his absence. Photography affects us like a phenomenon in nature, like a

flower or a snowflake whose vegetable or earthly origins are an inseparable part of their

beauty.

The painter is unable, due to his medium, to escape the appearance of his touch. Photography,

according to Bazin, evaporates the human touch: photography removes the artists fingerprintevident in the medium of painting and sculpture. Bazin also believes that, because of the technical

and scientific method of photography, the aesthetic experience derived is much more in-line with

personal perception. Photography and cinema replicates the physically real without the barrier that

one encounters when admiring a painting or sculpture. It should be noted however that Bazin invests

far too much faith in the technical process of developing film as an objective and not subjective

process. The production of film is open to that very same human touch Bazin felt paintings

contained. With the birth of photography came the birth of photo modification and editing and films

such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari show this trend with certain scenes being coloured differently.

And with digital film it is hard to really locate an image that hasnt been altered somewhat for

aesthetic reasons. I think Bazin, even if he accepted that film is often modified, would argue that the

best cinema would attempt to capture reality as it is. However this position will be further explored in

Bazins other essays and other articles concerning them.

Bazin may have argued, however, that the counter-position that photography is not objective

incorrectly translates his proper position. Bazin uses the French word objectif, which means the lens

of a camera, and overtly, in the French text, plays on this meaning. Bazin may therefore be arguing

that by the objective nature of photography he means that the physical appearance of brush marks,the fingerprint of the human touch, are not apparent in film and therefore photography, unlike painting

or sculpture, reproduces reality without direct reference to an artist or photographer. Bazin therefore

may not mean objective as not-subjective but rather through an object. Photography removes the

appearanceof the touch of humanity rather than the touch of humanity.

To Bazin the process of photography confers on [an object] a quality of credibility. Bazin explains

that we accept as real the existence of the object reproduced, actually re-presented, set before us,

that is to say, in time and space. Bazin is arguing that photography and cinema communicates an

items existence to us and we believe it. A point is often made here that Bazin seems to believe in the

nave position that the camera never lies. However I believe that this point is too harsh. Bazin uses

the word confers which indicates Bazins position to be that the sense of real is attached or

attributed to the image this is not the same as saying the camera never lies. Bazin is arguing that

the reproduction of reality, through the camera, is imbued with an advantage because, unlike a

painting or sculpture, a photograph is not an ersatz. Painting, or sculpture, is a replacement for an

object, a photograph the reproduction. And Bazin believes that this reproduction is treated,

commonly, as if it is the object.

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There does seem to be some truth to Bazins position. People often accept cinematic worlds without

question and often photos modified, or photo-shopped, are accepted as true and real until people

are promoted to believe otherwise Piers Morgan losing his job over now discredited Iraq photos is a

distinct instance of this. This common, or regular, acceptance of photography and films realism is

often targeted by viral marketing campaigns and I am reminded of a film whose name I

currently cant remember which circulated a simulated, but realistic looking, office fight in order

to gain surprise and attract people unknowingly towards the films website. It is not that the camera

never lies but rather that we often accept photographs and films visual representation to be

unadulterated and true (even though we known it isnt a psychological state known asambivalence).

Bazin goes on to argue that the aesthetic qualities of photography are to be sought in its power to

lay bare realities. Bazin comes to the conclusion that:

Only the impassive lens, stripping its object of all those ways of seeing it, those piled-up

preconceptions, that spiritual dust and grime with which my eyes have covered it, is

able to present it in all its virginal purity to my attention and consequently to my love.

To Bazin photography makes us see the world anew. Realism strips bare those preconceptions

which, to Bazin, we accumulate through the passage of time like dust settling on furniture. Therefore

to Bazin photography and Cinema, in the realist style, is a gust of wind which blows away the dust

that settles on our way of seeing. A problem with Bazins conclusion, that realism blows away our

preconceptions, is that it moves from explanation to conclusion without exploration of the logical

sequence which would indicate how realism would blow away our preconception. Bazin imbues the

realist style, and photography, with magical qualities like the ones he noted in the Egyptian cultures

motivation for mummification. However Bazin fails to establish the reason why and how the realiststyle blows away the dust of preconceptions and it seems rather, contradictory to Bazins intended

position, that realism relies on preconceptions. Realism is not so much presenting virginal purity but

rather relying on regular conceptions and perceptions of reality this reliance is in fact why one would

argue realism is imbued with the power of truth. Realism encounters a problem as it seems to rely on

common-sense perceptions and those common-sense perceptions tend to be a naturalised

ideological position. In The Ontology of the Photographic Image Bazin cannot support the

conclusion he comes to however he does provide a groundwork for arguing that the film is a

powerful medium with a technical process of production which allows it to represent an object rather

than replace it which painting and sculpture does therefore ensuring a sense of verisimilitude to

attached to the medium of film. Bazin does go on to argue for realism in further essays and I will

cover these in the attempt to uncover his motivation for his assertion that realism is the optimum style

of film.

1The ontology of the photographic image is an inquiry and assertion by Bazin on the differences

between film, and painting/Sculpture. On a wider note Bazins ontological approach is an inquiry

into what is, could be and most important to Bazins What is Cinema? and what should be

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in cinema.

2Andre Bazin The Ontology of the Photographic Image in Andre Bazin, Hugh Gray (trans), What Is

Cinema?, Vol. 1, London: University of California Press Ltd, (1967), pp. 9-16, p. 9.

3Andre Bazin The Ontology of the Photographic Image, p. 10.



6It should be noted that, although it is evident that Kafkas fiction is imbued with the personal fear of

death and his physical state, there is great humor and joy even in the struggle and fear.



9Andre Bazin The Ontology of the Photographic Image, pp. 12-13.


11Andre Bazin The Ontology of the Photographic Image, pp. 13-14.




15See Barthes Mythologiesor Althussers Ideological-State Apparatus

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6 THOUGHTS ON INFLUENTIAL THEORISTS: ANDRE BAZIN THE ONTOLOGY OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE

About A.R. Duckworth

South Yorkshire England

View all posts by A.R. Duckworth!

This entry was posted in Film Form/Tech., Philosophyand taggedAesthetics, Bazin, Cinema,

Film, Film Criticism, Film Philosophy, Film Theory, French Film Theorists, Infulential

Theorist, Infulential Theorists, Objective, Perception, Philosophy, Photography, Plastic

Arts, Realism, Subjective, The Ontology of the Photographic Image, Truth, What Is Cinema?

byA.R. Duckworth. Bookmark the permalink

[https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/influential-theorists-andre-bazin-

%e2%80%93-the-ontology-of-the-photographic-image/] .

he Ideology of Realism:

ean-Luc Comolli & Jean

Paul Narboni's

Cinema/Ideology/Criticism

Influential Theorists: Andre

Bazin - The Myth of Total

Cinema

Shallow Focus and the

Aura of Authenticity in

Gamorra

he Ideology of Realism:

ean-Luc Comolli & Jean

Paul Narboni's

Cinema/Ideology/Criticism

Influential Theorists: Andre

Bazin - The Myth of Total

Cinema

Shallow Focus and the

Aura of Authenticity in

Gamorra

Tony D'Ambra

on December 2, 2008 at 03:45said:

A photograph frames reality, and as soon as the shutter closes, the

photographer has defined a limited reality. In this sense, a photograph is no

more real than a painting or sculpture.

A.R. Duckworth

https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/influential-theorists-andre-bazin-%e2%80%93-the-ontology-of-the-photographic-image/#comment-240https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/influential-theorists-andre-bazin-%e2%80%93-the-ontology-of-the-photographic-image/#comment-238http://filmsnoir.net/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/shallow-focus-and-the-aura-of-authenticity-in-gamorra/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/influential-theorists-andre-bazin-the-myth-of-total-cinema/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/against-realism-jean-luc-comolli-paul-narbonis-cinemaideologycriticism/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/shallow-focus-and-the-aura-of-authenticity-in-gamorra/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/influential-theorists-andre-bazin-the-myth-of-total-cinema/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/against-realism-jean-luc-comolli-paul-narbonis-cinemaideologycriticism/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/influential-theorists-andre-bazin-%e2%80%93-the-ontology-of-the-photographic-image/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/author/ardfilmjournal/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/what-is-cinema/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/truth/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/the-ontology-of-the-photographic-image/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/subjective/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/realism/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/plastic-arts/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/photography/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/philosophy/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/perception/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/objective/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/infulential-theorists/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/infulential-theorist/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/french-film-theorists/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/film-theory/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/film-philosophy/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/film-criticism/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/film/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/cinema/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/bazin/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/tag/aesthetics/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/category/philosophy/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/category/film-formtech/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/author/ardfilmjournal/


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Pingback:The Ideology of Realism: Jean-Luc Comolli & Paul Narbonis

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It is certainly true that the process of photography captures and embalms

time but Bazin would feel that this poses no problem to his position

because he believes that this process captures or frames the real world

as it is perceived. The photograph is no more real than a painting or

sculpture but to Bazin it reproduces reality rather than creates an ersatz, or

replacement, as does sculpture. However I would agree with your

statement: Bazins position takes photography to be too true of a

reproduction and in a sense photography cannot escape its position as a

replacement for reality regardless of its aesthetic similarities with perceivedreality. Distinguishing between photography and the traditional plastic arts,

sculpture and painting, by positing that photography is a reproduction and

not an ersatz fails; photography as we have both come to the position

is both a replacement and a reproduction of reality.

Another point of difficulty Bazin encounters is that of a causal link. Bazin

argues that painting shows a human touch unseen in photography.

However the mechanical process of photography was produced by the

human hand and could be seen as an extension of the human touch the

human touch made mechanical. In fact it could be argued that science,

and machinery, is the most overt sign of the human touch as it has sprung

so far from nature.

Billy Pilgrim


Bazins thought is probably misinterpreted towards his strongest, firmer

positions, but I find this to be the perfect start and epilogue to any

discourse about Andrs view of photography and cinema.
https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/influential-theorists-andre-bazin-%e2%80%93-the-ontology-of-the-photographic-image/#comment-304http://rateyourmusic.com/list/teo_vil/twenty_0_eighthttps://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/influential-theorists-andre-bazin-the-myth-of-total-cinema/https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/against-realism-jean-luc-comolli-paul-narbonis-cinemaideologycriticism/


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abimorella

on January 13, 2010 at 02:48said:

now this idea of realism that people get in photos and movies is an illusion

of what they believe reality isI need help with Christian Metz and the

impression of reality
https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/influential-theorists-andre-bazin-%e2%80%93-the-ontology-of-the-photographic-image/#comment-4048http://kaaa.sosblog.com/

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