Pictorialism was a movement in reaction to commercial photography. Today, we would call it "Fine Art Photography". The term pictorial was first used by Henry Peach Robinson in 1869 to distinguish fine art photography from technical, scientific, and documentary approaches.
As jp pointed out, one of its early exponents in California was none other than Ansel Adams, who wrote the following:
"I am more than ever convinced that the only possible way to interpret the scenes hereabout is through an impressionistic vision... Form, in a material sense, is not only unnecessary, but sometimes useless and undesirable." (Ansel Adams, Letters and Images 1916-1984 by Alinder and Stillman).
Needless to say, that was written by the pictorialist Ansel Adams - before he became the f/64 Ansel Adams.
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