1. Abstract Art &
Photography
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2. Representational and Abstract art
Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus, 1601
Piet Mondrian, Composition
in red yellow and blue, 1921
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3. In the Caravaggio painting the
composition consists of the
arrangement of people and
recogniseable objects.
The painting clearly represents
people sitting around a table –
things that we could find in the
„real‟ world.
Works like this are called
representational or figurative.
The Mondrian painting also
involves a composition process,
but in this case it is a
composition of shapes, lines
and colours.
The picture seems not to
directly represent anything
which we would find in the „real‟
world.
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4. Film „stills‟ from the film La
Jetee.
Abstract or representational?
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5. Pattern
Do you want there to be a center of interest in your photograph or
painting, or would you prefer the image itself to become a pattern?
Jackson Pollock, Painting, 1948
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6. Photogram by Lazolo Maholy-Nagy
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7. Whilst some works are
clearly representational and
others clearly abstract, many
photographs or artworks
seem to be representational
(figurative), and yet also have
an abstract quality
Photo by Paul Strand
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8. Photo by Andreas
Gursky
This is a photograph of a
motor race track in
Bahrain.
The pattern created by the
track produces an abstract
quality to the image – do
you agree or disagree –
discuss.
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9. When you view a completely abstract image it is usually
meaningless to ask “what is it of?”
Many people today still believe that to qualify as „Art‟,
an image or artwork must be representational – it must
be of something found in the physical world.
In the second half of the 19th century some artists
began to break free of this constraint, attempting to
produce art which was less of and more about the
subject.
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10. JMW Turner, Rain, steam and speed, 1844
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11. Claude Monet, Water Lillies, 1915-26
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12. Photographers in the 1920‟s
started experimenting with the
camera‟s ability to „see‟ in new
and exciting ways (using
startling viewpoints, close-ups,
radical framing and so on).
They allowed the photography
to revel in those aspects of the
medium which made it different
to other atistic media, rather
than trying to make their
photographs appear like other
forms of art, such as painting.
Extension work: „Medium
Specificity‟.
Photo by Steichen
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13. Photographs by Edward Weston
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14. Photo by
John
Baldessari
Abstract or
representatio
nal or …. a
bit of both?
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15. Photo by Tomatsu
Shomei
How would you
describe this image
…
Is it „of‟ anything?
Is it
representational or
abstract?
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16. Photographs by Wolfgang Tillmans
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17. What are the essential differences
between representational and
abstract art/photography?
What might abstract photographs
be good for?
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