I drifted into an interesting discussion with my fellow artists at the Torpedo Factory Art Center. The conversation revolved around who, among photographers living today, will be remembered in a hundred years. That leaves out most of the 20th century's great names.
I'd be very interested in who you think will be remembered and why.
My first thought is Annie Leibovitz. She brought the idea of shooting a "low brow" subject (i.e. rock stars- and for a magazine no less) to a new level and a respected use of the medium. She will also be remembered for her ability to beautifully combine two seemingly incongruent subjects- her photographs of athletes for Vogue are stunning, and remind us that bodies can be beautiful for what they can do, not just what they look like. Her portraits for Vogue, often of very powerful women, are lovely though not earth shattering. Her commentary on women in our society, however, will be her most lasting legacy. Her ability to document how women are gendered, as well as the various ways women show strength, is her most important contribution to the art form.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is no one's photographs will be remembered. We are so bombarded with images these days that nothing really sticks with me any more. And 100 years is a long, long time. Even that master technician, Ansel Adams, had a deep streak of self-promotion going for him. And he did have to contend with the image saturation of today's world. I am very interested in the controversy of the $46 trunk of glass plates that the new trunk owner is promoting as being Ansel's. I cannot believe anyone with that attention to detail let an entire trunk of negatives escape him. There were enough excellent photographers in Ansel's day that there is no way to prove the provenance of the negatives. The prints are another matter.
ReplyDeleteWhoever is remembered 100 years from now will be determined more by their life than their images.
William Wegman. Finally treated us dogs as the glamorous and intelligent creatures we are.
ReplyDeleteZack: You are extremely perceptive!
ReplyDeleteI still remember seeing my first Ansel Adams print in the Smithsonian. I had been doing B&W work for about 8 years. It stopped me dead in my tracks and I could only mutter: "He can't do THAT!" Yet he did.
ReplyDeleteI also remember seeing a very large retrospective of Ansel's work at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum a number of years ago. I went three times.
ReplyDeleteI remember one print of Half Dome that looked like Ansel had gone to dinner while the print was in the selenium toner. It was eggplant purple. Should never have gotten out of his darkroom.
I also saw a very large print of "Clearing Storm, Yosemite" at a gallery in California. The highlights were heavy and had no luminosity. It was $30,000.
Actually I find it sort of comforting to know hat as good as Ansel was in the darkroom, he was human....
I'm willing to bet that what we regard today as "commercial", and work that is technologically-based, is what will be remembered.
ReplyDeleteMarnie, I'm inclined to agree.
ReplyDeleteI certainly think that there is a good chance that Michael Kenna will be remembered. He is one of the finest landscape photographers working today. That said, I think his consistency of vision is so strong that it is starting to be shtick. I'm sure the galleries like the recognizable style but I'm wondering if there isn't a more visually diverse artist locked up in there somewhere.
I also think that many of the great commercial/fashion photographers should be remembered. In addition to obvious choices like Avedon and Penn, I would also include Hiro and Bill Silano to name a couple. There are certainly others.
Here is an interesting discussion that goes to the point: http://reason.com/archives/1997/07/01/adieu-to-the-avant-garde