The evolution of colour within still life photography from the 1950 to 2000.

In this unit I have been given an overall theme of ‘colour’, within this theme I have decided to investigate and analyse the evolution of colour between 1950 and 2000 specifically within still life photography. I will be researching photographers and comparing and contrasting their photographs from each decade in order to determine how still life and colour has evolved over the past 60 years.

Like landscape or portraiture, still life is one of the great traditional art forms. Still life more so than other types of photography gives the photographer full control of the composition, lighting and atmosphere of the image. Its roots firmly embedded in the romanticism of traditional painting techniques, ‘still life’ usually seeks to illustrate the natural world and to present something more than a simple record of the scene. When a painter works, the resulting picture will reflect what has been in the artist's mind - predilections, frustrations, enjoyments and moods etc. This applies to the photographer as artist too - so the photographs represent something within us, making them each unique.

Still life within the photographic image can be open to interpretation as each individual can view it differently and relate the subject matter back to something personal that has a meaning or message for them that is not experience by anyone else. A still life photographer creates an experience as opposed to taking a photograph. The subjects for still-life pictures are often simple and commonplace. The familiar can be rendered special and significant by the treatment that it's given. Just as trivial words can provide the source for a beautiful song so trivial objects can be arranged to form a beautiful picture.

Still life photography 1950:

Stanley Matthew Mitruk was born in Chicago, Illinois, January 22nd, 1922.

He was fortunate enough to attend the art institute of Chicago in both 1941 and 1942.

He was given a position in the Chicago art institute first starting off in the print department

Stanley Mitruks, ’Still life storage’ (1941) Chicago

then moving on towards his preferred media of which is photography. He entered the department of designing instillations in the photography gallery and later as assistant to Mrs. Kathryn Kuh in the Gallery of Art Interpretation.

Mr. Mitruk designed sets and costumes for The Chicago Ballet Repertory Company and The Chicago Opera Company in 1943 and 1944. He was a prolific artist from 1939 through 1964, and had exhibited annually since 1943 in the Art Institute’s “Chicago and Vicinity Art Exhibitions,”

This piece is a black and white photo that consists of tea pots, milk jugs and wine bottles all sitting on a window ledge with a traditional looking wooden window behind it, the window consists of 9 small panes of glass and there seems to be a coat or hat hook on the left hand wall in the picture.

This image could represent the suppleness of everyday living in Chicago during the 1950’s, the economy was not in a great state and this image could represent how people valued the simple things that they had on a day to day basis more so than usual.

This is a traditional photo in the sense of what it portrays the simpler things that we see in our day to day life. This image is traditional with its color scheme as it is a black and white image; however through the use of tone I am able to get a feel for the lighting in the room. This piece can be related back to Spanish still life in the way that it is set out, in a straight line and the fact that the photo was taken from a straight on angle.

Still life photography 1960: Josef sudek last roses 1960

Josef Sudek was born March 17th 1896, Kolin, Bohemia and died on September 15th, 1976, and was a Czech photographer, best known for his haunting night-scapes of Prague, however I will be looking into his photography pieces more so in this investigation.

Sudek was originally a bookbinder; however during the action of the Hungarian army on the Italian front during WW1 he unfortunately lost one of his hands, this made

him turn to photography even though he had no past experience with the form of media. He was ‘thrown in at the deep end’ as he was given a camera and travelled to Prague where he would study photography for two years with Jaromit Funke. With the allowance that he received from the army due to his injury he was fortunate enough to be able to make art in this time

Originally a bookbinder, Sudek was badly injured during action by the Hungarian Army on the Italian Front of World War I in 1916. Although he had no experience with photography and was one-handed due to his amputation, he was given a camera and studied photography for two years in Prague under Jaromir Funke.  His Army disability pension gave him leeway to make art, and he worked during the 1920s in the romantic Pictorialist style. Always pushing at the boundaries, a local camera club expelled him for arguing about the need to move forwards from 'painterly' photography. Sudek then founded the progressive Czech Photographic Society in 1924. Despite only having one arm, he used large, bulky cameras with the aid of assistants.

Sudek's photography is sometimes said to be modernist. But this is only true of a couple of years in

the 1930s, during which he undertook commercial photography and thus worked "in the style of the times". Primarily, his personal photography is neo-romantic.

His early work included many series of light falling in the interior of St. Vitus cathedral. During and after World War II Sudek created haunting night-scapes and panoramas of Prague, photographed the wooded landscape of Bohemia, and the window-glass that led to his garden.

Sudek's individualism did not fit in with the new post-war Czech Socialist Republic, but fortunately the strong artistic tradition of the country meant that there were many mavericks in the establishment who supported his work, and it continued to be published. Finally he was to become the first photographer to be honored by the Republic with the title of 'Artist of Merit' and in his 70th year, his life's work was recognized by the 'Order of Labour'.

He died, still keen to do more work, at the age of 80 in 1976.

This image consists of a rose sitting in a glass of water and a sea shell sitting to the left of it, they are both sitting on a windowsill and there appears to be condensation on the window and rain pelting against it, this brings a negative feel to the picture as the rose looks as if the type you would throw onto a coffin at a funeral, this along with pathetic fallacy brings a mood to the picture.

This piece can be related back to Spanish still life in relation to the objects being placed on a windowsill and once again the image is in black and white, this is due to the time period that the picture was taken in however it is obvious in this picture how over the period of a decade the style of photography has developed, in the previous picture, the photo was taken straight on and it was focused at a number of objects where as in this image the photo has been taken from a taller height as if someone was sitting on a chair and looking out onto the rose.

Bill Owens joy of cooking 1970

Bill Owens was born September 25th 1928 and is an American photographer

The recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship in 1976 and two NEA Grants, he is best known for his photographs of suburban domestic scenes taken in the East Bay and published in the book Suburbia in 1973. According to The New York Sun, "Bill Owens is one of the very few photographers to have shot people in the suburbs to any great extent. There is a long, long list of photographers who made their reputations shooting in cities and a shorter but impressive list who made their names with studies of rural communities, but Mr. Owens is uniquely associated with suburbanites living in the tract housing developments that absorbed 60 million Americans in the decades following World War II." Owens released the photographic book Suburbia,

whose pictures showed American suburban life in the town of Livermore.

The image above is a black and white image of a book shelf or open storage cupboard. There seems to be everything from a bottle of whisky to herbs and spices to cereals to cooking flower, it appears to be

an all around messy storage unit, something that would appear in an everyday family house; something that would typically house and feed 6 or more people.

This picture has elements of Spanish still life in the way of which the items are stored however due to the composition of the picture and the nature of the shelves they would tend to be stacked and stored this way anyway. This piece only contains some factors of Spanish still life because of the angle of which it is taken at (straight on) and the fact that they are stored side by side. This picture is more developed than a traditional Spanish still life picture because the pieces are not stored perfectly in order. Although this image is in black and white, this is the first image that I have evaluated in that has been purposely put into black and white. This picture uses the use of tones the show the crowded mess of which is the shelves and makes it appear almost blurred giving off the feeling that the feel in that house may be hectic and busy, showing what sort of lifestyle they live; the choice to have it in black and white shows, although they may live a hectic life, it is a simple one, this could be in a financial way or a social one.

This piece has developed in a way to the previous piece due to the fact that rather than show the suppleness of the setting through minimal objects he has done it through sheer quantity, the picture has developed in such a way that a new base has been used to place the objects on, originally it tended to be windowsills now it has promoted to a number of shelves all being compact into one picture, although there was the option to have colour in this image due to the photographic breakthroughs he has decided otherwise than to use it as I believe the objective of the image is to show the simplicity of everyday life even though it may become hectic at times, these two ideas are controversial and for this to happen I think it’s essential to leave the picture in black and white.

STILL LIFE STUDIES by Jan Groover ,Circa 1980

Jan Groover was born April 14th 1943 and was an American photographer; she was thought to be considered as one of the iconic photographers of her period as she found new ways and new angles to look at still life formats. Groover received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1965 from Pratt Institute, and a Master of Arts in 1970 from Ohio State University. This was an early indication of how iconic she would turn out to be as she; along with others such as Bill Owens and Joseph Sudak is part of a group of photographers who formed modern day photography. Groover was noted for the new and upcoming colour technologies that were recently made available to her. She had a wide use of all materials and often used platinum prints for portraits and still life’s,

transforming everyday items, much like the image below in to beautiful, formal still lives. There was a cover of a magazine dedicated to Groover which was a stepping stone in her lifetime and that of photography’s. . In 1987, critic Andy Grundberg noted in The New York Times, "In 1978 an exhibition of her dramatic still-life photographs of objects in her kitchen sink caused a sensation. When one appeared on the cover of Art forum magazine, it was a signal that photography had arrived in the art world - complete with a marketplace to support it.

Groover was noted was her use of 20th century camera technology, such as the banquet camera, for elongated, horizontal presentations of otherwise common objects.

This is a medium format film piece, which means she has used a traditional technique, and traditional form however It has been presented in an untraditional sense in the way or the

subjects and it being vertical rather than squared up or horizontal. This piece is in colour, which is substantial as it is the first photograph that I have analyzed which is in colour, which represents the decade in which colour photography came about, this was a historic decade for photography as from here on out it meant that anything that could be photographed could be could almost as seen, in colour.

This still life consists of what looks to be a silver sourer for a tea cup and is surrounded by utensils that can be found throughout the kitchen such as egg lifters, dinner forks, dessert forks, knifes and potato mashers which all have a chrome finish to them. The objects are layered across each other is a provocative manner as they are all almost caught up in each other. There is no natural light here and there is a white backdrop and flooring which gives the whole piece a clinical feel to it. The lighting gives the ability for reflections to be seen clearly on each object as they have a chromed finish.

This picture was taken in a studio rather than a kitchen which allows for a more surreal feel to it however is does not give it that authentic look in which I expect she was looking for. As most of the objects are only half in the picture it gives the viewer some suspicion as to what lays on the other side, gives it mystery as to what has been left out and why.

Irving Penn still life triangle with red eraser 1990

Penn was born on June 16th, 1917 in Plainfield,

New Jersey. Penn attended the Philadelphia

Museum School of Industrial Art from 1934 to

1938, where he studied drawing, painting,

graphics, and industrial arts under Alexey

Brodovitch. While still a student, Penn worked

under Brodovitch at Harper's Bazaar which

published several of Penn's drawings.

Penn worked for two years as a freelance

designer and making his first amateur

photographs before taking Brodovitch's position

as the art director at Saks Fifth Avenue in 1940.

Penn remained at Saks Fifth Avenue for a year

before leaving to spend a year painting and taking photographs in Mexico and across the US.

When Penn returned to New York, Alexander Liberman offered him a position as an

associate in the Vogue magazine Art Department. Penn worked on layout for the magazine

before Liberman asked him to try photography.

Penn's first photographic cover for Vogue magazine appeared in October 1943. Penn

continued to work at the magazine throughout his career, photographing covers, portraits, still

lives, fashion, and photographic essays. In the 1950s, Penn founded his own studio in New

York and began making advertising photographs. Over the years, Penn's list of clients grew

to include General Foods, De Beers, Issey Miyake, and Clinique.

Penn met fashion model Lisa Fonssagrives at a photo shoot in 1947. In 1950, the two married

at Chelsea Register Office, and two years later Lisa gave birth to their son, Tom Penn, who

would go on to become a metal designer. Lisa Fonssagrives died in 1992. Penn died aged 92

on October 7, 2009 at his home in Manhattan.

This photo consists of a selection of school equipment that is usually used in a math class;

there is a transparent triangle on the bottom with a yellow ruler overlying this horizontally.

There is some blue tac lying on the left hand side of the top end of the triangle and a yellow

rubber underneath this. Below the rubber lies a blue pencil and on the right hand side of that

lies a pile of rubber scrapings that have come loose from the red rubber which lies below the

pencil. All of the above is lying and captured on a white background and the light is coming

from the back left hand side which is made apparent due to the shadows.

This is a medium format film piece, which means she has used a traditional technique, and

traditional form however it has been presented in an untraditional sense in the way or the

subjects and it being vertical rather than horizontal. This is a colour picture which shows the

development of the technology throughout this era compared to decades before as this has

many more bold, bright colours such as yellow and red which really add to the photo as it

shows how this technology and this standard of photo can become the norm, this is

represented with the everyday items that are used in the photo, however the specific school

items used show how they were still learning, not only with they’re photography techniques

but with everything they encounter. Compared to the previous decade these colours have

become allot more distinctive and have allowed the photographer to capture, in depth the

subjects.

Laura Letinsky number untitled 2002 ‘i did not remember i had forgotten’

Laura L.Letinsky was born in 1962 and is a Canadian contempory photographer best

known for her still life which is what have drawn me to her.

Much of Letinsky's work alludes to human presence, without including any actual

figures. For example, in the Morning and Melancholia, and the I Did Not Remember I

Had Forgotten series, Letinsky seems to document the aftermath of a sumptuous

gathering or dinner party. Faded flower petals intermingle with empty glasses and

crumbs of food on partially cleared tables, often covered with a white linen that bears

the mark of spilled wine. As eluded in the title Morning and Melancholia these scenes

are often filled with a fresh, clear light, as though one is viewing from the perspective of

the morning after, what the host failed to clean up the evening before. However, the title of

the series itself is a reference to an essay by Freud, "Mourning and Melancholia," which

discusses the human response to loss. 

This is a white on white colour image of a cream coloured cloth underneath the leftovers of a party which contains two glasses to the left hand side which contains a dribble of a red drink in one and a green drink in the other. Next to it lays a plate with a napkin in and some crumbs and spillage around the outside. With all the items being to the left hand side the style of this would be that of the sixteenth and seventeenth century but with a modern twist on it as it consists of wine glasses and paper

napkins instead of chalices. There is no natural light and very soft light coming from a lamp with a shield which allows for no shadows.

Unlike previous photographers examined this is of the highest quality yet, the evolution of colour and quality have been combined into one here to find what we class as a modern photograph.

I have discovered throughout my investigation how techniques have changed throughout the last fifty years to benefit the world of photography, the use of

technology have revolutionized the media and allows for a whole new range of photographed have come to life. I have learned that the technology that I have access to today is far superior to that of fifty years ago or even twenty years ago and this allows us to capture the world around us is a far greater depth.

Bibliography

http://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/artist,show,3,13,0,0,0,0,0,0,laura_letinsky.html

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=,+in+the+Morning+and+Melancholia&espv=2&biw=1137&bih=741&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=BjjTVJe4LZPtapbGgKgO&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg&dpr=0.9#tbm=isch&q=%2C+in+the+Morning+and+Melancholia+year

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q=STILL+LIFE+STUDIES+By+Jan+Groover+,Circa+1980&espv=2&biw=1137&bih=741&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ST7TVL2GM4ziaNq3gugF&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&dpr=0.9#imgdii=_&imgrc=N-YrTlL6TPADoM%253A%3BTENUe-Uc-tMG9M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fmedia.mutualart.com%252FImages%252F2010_06%252F20%252F0012%252F866834%252F129204892250096698_9f6ae7be-0178-4a46-b273-d91854788be9_100052_338.Jpeg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.mutualart.com%252FArtist%252FJan-Groover%252F2C847885332CD071%252FArtworks%3B338%3B338

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