Art and Landscape Photography

[John Kasaian]

I came across this qoute in an article by Roger Kimball also who wrote The Rape of the Masters: How Political Corectness Sabotages Art:

"This much I think, is clear: Without an allegiance to beauty, art degenerates into a caracature of itself; it is beauty that animates the aesthetic experience, making it so seductive, but aesthetic experience itself degenerates into a kind of fetish or idol if it is held up as an end in itself, untested by the rest of life."

I am trying to understand how that fits in with my own attempts at landscape photography. It seems like it should but I cannot find the correct words to define how the landscape photograph does this.

Any thoughts, suggestions or ideas?

[claudiocambon]

I came across this qoute in an article by Roger Kimball also who wrote The Rape of the Masters: How Political Corectness Sabotages Art:

"This much I think, is clear: Without an allegiance to beauty, art degenerates into a caracature of itself; it is beauty that animates the aesthetic experience, making it so seductive, but aesthetic experience itself degenerates into a kind of fetish or idol if it is held up as an end in itself, untested by the rest of life."

I am trying to understand how that fits in with my own attempts at landscape photography. It seems like it should but I cannot find the correct words to define how the landscape photograph does this.

Any thoughts, suggestions or ideas?

Without more context, it is hard to place what he is saying, and so, what he says risks acquiring the status of a truism; in turn, any comment thereon risks being equally vague. Is there a larger quote here, or a more specific reference to an artist or style?

[paulr]

Yeah ... who knows what he meant by "beauty." In relation to art, it's been interpreted dozens of different ways between the ancient greeks and the postmoderns.

If you haven't read Robert Adams' "Beauty in Photography: Essays in Defense of Traditional Values," I strongly recommend it. It's about the power of landscape more than anything else.

[Daniel_Buck]

to me, landscape photos are just something pretty to look at I think he might be looking a little to deep!

[domenico Foschi]

Why should I copy this owl, this sea urchin? Why should I try to imitate nature? I might just as well try to trace a perfect circle. (Pablo Picasso)

[QT Luong]

While some traditions of photography have placed an emphasis on the esthetics, more recent ones have displaced it in favor of ideas and engagement with the contemporary world. The writer seems to propose that both are necessary.

How does it relate to landscape ? If one thinks of it as "natural landscape", that area isn't considered anymore a fertile ground for expression of ideas and engagement with the contemporary world.

[John Kasaian]

Without more context, it is hard to place what he is saying, and so, what he says risks acquiring the status of a truism; in turn, any comment thereon risks being equally vague. Is there a larger quote here, or a more specific reference to an artist or style?

The context I got was of Art elevated to a plateau where it becomes a positive element of life.

[John Kasaian]

Yeah ... who knows what he meant by "beauty." In relation to art, it's been interpreted dozens of different ways between the ancient greeks and the postmoderns.

If you haven't read Robert Adams' "Beauty in Photography: Essays in Defense of Traditional Values," I strongly recommend it. It's about the power of landscape more than anything else.

Thanks Paul, I'll nab a copy and read it as soon as I can.

[John Kasaian]

to me, landscape photos are just something pretty to look at I think he might be looking a little to deep!

Daniel, you've hit the nail on the head! I'm trying to figure out at what point does a landscape become more than a record and crosses over into "fine art" and what elements drive the seductive aesthetic? Does goosing a negative to put more of what the photographer "feels" in a print make it more fine art and less an accurate record? And which ultimately fills whatever need that needs to be fulfilled?

[DJGainer]

To me the author is saying that art relies on beauty, but beauty in a picture does not make it art. I understand him to mean that there must be a deeper composition that conveys a message to the viewer rather than just, "look at me, I'm pretty!"

I think "accurate records" can be art, but the where mere beauty becomes art is has a low objective threshold and then a highly subjective one.