MAN RAY- surrealist
A camera alone does not make a picture. To make a picture, you need a camera, a photographer, and above all a subject. It is the subject alone that determines the interest of the photograph.”
This monochrome photograph taken by Man ray in 1936 is a classic example of his portrait art,Solarise techniques would likely have been used to create the shadowy, negative effect. He often used women as the subject matter to his photographs, as he worked in fashion media such as Vogue magazine. He also appeared to be fond of the use of hands within his photographs, such as this one, to frame and create diverse and interesting angles to work with; this is due to Man Ray's artistic background as he kick started his career as a painter before he focalised on photography. The use of the models hand down the centre of the image focalises her eyes and face, as they are central to the image and located slightly to the right. As the image is a portrait subject, but was taken in landscape position, the model does not fill up the entirety of the frame but we are still drawn to her due to the angle her hand creates down the centre towards her eyes.
Again, this photograph has been developed using Solarise techniques (which reverses the image from positive to negative- and vice versa) which has given it a very interesting, surreal style. The shadow around the model outlines her and makes her stand out even more, as its block colour where as she, as the main subject, has different shades of grey and black. the way Man Ray has arranged her is artistic and fluent across the frame, as the diagonal angle draws our eyes from the left hand corner right down to the bottom right. Also, Man Ray was fond of using hands and arms to frame faces, this photograph is s lovely example of this being done as her head rests on her left arm whilst her right wraps around and is arranged delicately across her head. Clearly, the composition of Man Ray's photographs are thought out well and he made the decision to make this more then just a standard portrait shot, the style inspires me to use this element of artistic composition when taking my portrait images.
Surralism has certainly moved forward in development from the 1930's to now, where Man Ray used physical development techniqes such as solarisation today we can achieve the same kind of results with a digital manipulation software in the matter of hours or even minutes.
Surralism has certainly moved forward in development from the 1930's to now, where Man Ray used physical development techniqes such as solarisation today we can achieve the same kind of results with a digital manipulation software in the matter of hours or even minutes.
This is an example of one of Man Ray's more abstract pieces of work. He has merged the face of a woman and a cat to create this piece called "Kitty jumps."This was done very skilfully with precision which makes the effect of this image very impacting. The model is looking upwards towards the camera with her eyes centre which is a technique photographers use to make eyes in focus and very direct.
The idea of using animals within my photographs to create an original and abstract piece appeals to me, it's completely unique and has the potential to portray many moods. This photograph in particular strikes me as curious; apart from the fact she has a half-cat face she still possesses cat like qualities which are shown in her pose and positioning as cats are often curious and intrigued.
Man Ray developed an inspiration for art whilst living in New York from the galleries of European contemporary work, and this is shown in his early work as it displays facets of cubism. It is clear that Man Ray was inspired to develop his surreal and individual style by the current art and photography of the time.
The idea of using animals within my photographs to create an original and abstract piece appeals to me, it's completely unique and has the potential to portray many moods. This photograph in particular strikes me as curious; apart from the fact she has a half-cat face she still possesses cat like qualities which are shown in her pose and positioning as cats are often curious and intrigued.
Man Ray developed an inspiration for art whilst living in New York from the galleries of European contemporary work, and this is shown in his early work as it displays facets of cubism. It is clear that Man Ray was inspired to develop his surreal and individual style by the current art and photography of the time.
Andy Warhol- surrealism pop artist
In August 62 I started doing silkscreens. I wanted something stronger that gave more of an assembly line effect. With silkscreening you pick a photograph, blow it up, transfer it in glue onto silk, and then roll ink across it so the ink goes through the silk but not through the glue. That way you get the same image, slightly different each time. It was all so simple quick and chancy. I was thrilled with it."
As Warhol explains in the quote above, he used silkscreening to absorb the ink and give the varied colour effect. Warhol used this unusual style throughout college, drawing public attention to his art which eventuated in him becoming a key figure in the pop art movement. He had a particular interest in clebrity culture, so when he first made his famous Marilyn prints in the 60's, (especially after the event of her death), this gained him a lot of public attention and fame. His repetative style, such as the one shown to the left or the repeated pattern of the soup can, challenged the preconcieved notions about how art should look, and used mass production art to erase the lines which defined fine art and popular culture. This piece is an example of his mass production art, and how the colours used in each image effects the overall mood of the piece. The composition of Warhol's images are basic, for example this portrait is close up with no other parts of her body intertwined making it less complicated.
Again, this piece is recognisably the work of Warhol as its sketchy-looking, with bright pastel colours making up the detail on the face. I think the style Warhol produced is surreal in the sense that although the composition of the photographs are very simple, such as this one how the subject is looking straight forward with just his head within the frame, it still depicts a certain mood depending on the colour tones Warhol used. For instance this image is rather cool as it is pink, yellow and blue and the blank expression on the models face accompanies this in creating the feel of the piece. Where as in comparison to Man Ray's photographs, he relies purely on the composition and expression of the models in order to depict a certain message or mood as . This shows how art and photography have developed aside one another throughout time, the style Man Ray introduced was still influential however artists such as Warhol developed his ideas by incorporating colour and popular figures into his work.
Although this differs from Warhol's usual style, he also uses animals for portrait work as well as humans. This piece shows how Warhol had taken pop art and transformed it into his own style. For example, many of his portraits reflect the style of Roy Lichtenstein and have similar features such as the pastel colours and also the fact they resemble paintings. Also, they are generally composed in a similar way where the face is in a profile position with very little else in the frame to keep the simplicity so it does not look too cluttered.
Andy Warhol also worked in advertising, so he would have been very much inspired by the current media and fashions, hence why his work takes a focus on popular culture (this is why a lot of his work showcases Marilyn Monroe-she was extremely popular in the 60s.)
Andy Warhol also worked in advertising, so he would have been very much inspired by the current media and fashions, hence why his work takes a focus on popular culture (this is why a lot of his work showcases Marilyn Monroe-she was extremely popular in the 60s.)
Steve McCurry
Steve McCurry, recognized universally as one of today’s finest image-makers, is best known for his evocative colour photography. In the finest documentary tradition, McCurry captures the essence of human struggle and joy."
As the quote states above, Steve McCurry is one of the most notorious photographers of today (his photographs are also a personal favourite) after this photograph featured on the cover of the 1985 National Geographic magazine. His popularity derives from his ability to capture raw emotion within photographs, as resource magazine says "The artistry of McCurry's travel photography is undeniably powerful in its universal appeal to human emotion." I think one of the most striking aspects of this image is that it is a candid moment, as the model was a genuine Afghan woman who lived in a refuge camp, therefore real emotion and mood is captured. Her eyes are almost directly in the centre of the frame, this positioning paired with the clarity and piercing colour of her eyes create such a strong and impacting image, which is why it became National Geographic's most notorious photograph of the century.
This photograph was taken by Steve McCurry
in the mid 80's; which means it was taken by a film based camera. I think this shows that not all amazing photographs have to be captured on top of the range digital cameras with colossal lenses, fantastic quality can be captured using film cameras as Steve McCurry wonderfully exhibits with this image.
In fact, Steve McCurry did not make the switch over to digital until 2005, which is late considering digital cameras had been around for almost ten years before that. However he did state that his photographs had never been such good quality when he swapped over to digital, and he does not regret doing so.
The photograph shown below was taken in 2008, after steve McCurry changed to digital