Wenqi Zhang

Art 4900

Professor Klein

Lisette Model, a renowned photographer, was born in 1901 in Vienna, where she first studied compositional theory and piano before going to Paris (Rosenblum 37). She was later influenced by European modernist aesthetics and philosophy; hence, abandoned her musical career to take up painting and subsequently photography. Later in 1937, she decided to concentrate full-time on photography and moved to New York with her husband, Evsa Model, in 1938. Three years later, she started a twelve-year association as a freelance photographer with Harper’s Bazaar (Roosens 26). In 1951, she taught in various workshops and private classes during her time and died in 1983.

Model’s notable work encompasses a series of photographs she made using a 35-milimeter camera, of individuals on the Lower East Side of New York streets and Promenade des Anglais in Nice (Rosenblum 39). Model’s work is notable since it emphasizes on the peculiarities of ordinary people in addition to its direct, honest portrayal of the contemporary life and its influence on the human character. She redefined the aspect of American documentary photography as well as the direction of the postwar photography in the 1940s (Roosens 28). Model made several great images from the sad, often eccentric, and funny inhabitants of subterranean haunts in New York to the rich idlers in Promenade des Anglais.

Figure 1: Coney Island Bather, New York (Rosenblum 40)

Model’s photography was natural and brought out all the features in the image. Her photographs represented the actual occurrences at the time and are admired because of their clarity. Model’s images have an impact on me in that I can deduce the historical incidents from the pictures. I often get a glimpse of the past by looking at the images. The first reaction one gets by looking at the pictures is a good feeling since they look real and actual people express the universal humanity in the society.

Roosens, Laurent, and Luc Salu. History of Photography: A Bibliography of Books. London: Mansell, 1989. Print.

Rosenblum, Naomi. A History of Women Photographers. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 2010. Print

Ben Nahmani

Art 4900

Professor Klein

7/24/16

Lucas Samaras

            Lucas Samaras was born in 1936 in Kastoria, Greece. His artistic work has been publicly displayed since the 1960’s. Samaras worked in other mediums such as painting, sculpture, and performance art, before beginning work in photography. He even attempted a career as a Psychoanalyst. His photographic work began to surface in the early 1970’s.  Samaras’ artistic style is one I would consider as avant-garde as much of his work is distorted, mutilated, “strange”, and contain colors that clash and mix all at the same time.

            The piece above, from the concentration titled Auto Polaroid 1969-71, is one of my favorite works by Lucas. The first photo (top left) shows two photos of Lucas himself overlapping, resembling Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The photos continue to flow from left to right, down to the bottom left and to the right again. I admire this piece because as disfigured and monstrous he makes himself look by double exposing himself the photos work very well together as a whole, making it “agreeable”.

         Another favorite of mine is this self portrait, from the concentration Photo-Transformation 1974. The ambiguity of what is happening in the foreground of the photo (hidden by what looks to be scratches) with the bluish aura shining from the back right but flooded out by the plain kitchen lighting from the left. I find it pleasing to the eye yet disturbing to the mind. It’s easy to see that Samaras dabbled in psychoanalysis.

            Below, another photo from Photo-Transformation July 9^th, 1976 shows Lucas in a long exposure. Due to the extended shutter speed setting, Samaras was able to make it look as though he appears multiple times in the same photo. Again there is a disturbing element to this photo. In most of his other work the “disturbing” (for lack of better word) aspect is usually phallic in nature, but here Samaras is seen holding a knife as well as with his face to the seat of a chair. There is also a blur of movement (from when he changed position) which hints at the action of stabbing himself in the head.

            Overall, I would have to say that Lucas Samaras’s work is very impressive. He was able to evoke real emotion from me, which I believe he intended to do and which I believe all art is intended/supposed to do (other than looking pretty of course). To conclude my review of the artist, Lucas Samaras, I’d like to leave you with a colored pencil drawing that has a wonderful review/reflection online. Click Here to read it!

Untitled, 23/7/1982

Paul Strand is a photographer from New York City. Like most photographers, he began by enjoying photography as a hobby. During a class field trip, he got the chance to visit an art gallery. A gallery that promoted photography and paintings that are outstanding. This led to him taking his hobby more seriously. Eventually, he was able to get his work promoted into galleries. Strand’s work was seen to be influencing and abstract. He contributed to creating a group named Photo League. This group used their artwork to promote social and political causes.

One of Paul Strand’s famous works is a photograph named ‘Wall Street’. The photo frames a building with people walking pass by it. There are strong shadows being casted, giving us a sense of time. Even though we don’t know the exact time, we can infer that everyone is going to work or going home. Everyone walking in this photo are silhouetted, giving a sense of uniform. Everyone is silhouetted because they have the same destinations. The photo also has huge black rectangle in the building. The color of the rectangle matches the color of the shadows coming from the people. The shadows and the black rectangles on the building puts a mysterious feeling into the photo. Paul’s choice of shooting on Wall Street shows me that he knows money plays a huge role in our everyday lives.

Aside from shooting photographs for social and political reasons, Paul Strand did a lot of portraiture. Looking as his portraits, we can see a lot of detail and style of the clothes worn. The style of the clothing really tells us a story about the person’s career. The black and white really brought out his subject’s unique features. His collection of portraits contained people of all kinds. I’m assuming he had an appreciation for diversity because he is from New York City. Looking at his portraits, I feel really close to the subject. At the same time, he shot a lot of still life photography. He puts together a photograph using inanimate objects ranges from bowls to houses. He takes advantage of the geometric shapes that are natural there. Paul then frames it well so the lines from the inanimate objects can attract the viewers’ attention. For example, Paul would put together a couple of bowls and using its natural curves, he creates a sense of symmetry.

Post your written piece under the category, Photographer. You can access the assignment on Blackboard.