The cinema as a graphic art : on a theory of representation in the cinema (1959)

CREATIVE PROBLEMS OF THE ART OF THE CAMERA-MAN rily broad extent of the field of vision. In the hands of a man with no artistic ilture or definite creative attitude the lens became a means of achieving simple reproduction ' representation of fortuitous subjects, without any attempt at eliberate selection of the expressive elements. Hence arose the flooding of the illustrated journals with haphazard photoraphs, void of artistic value, frequently useless even as a simple means of in>rmation. Photography lost one of its most valuable qualities — its artistic icturesqueness. The wholesale photo, which was merely a mechanical reflection, reproduction of a fortuitous subject, lost all right to be called an artistic prouction. The professional portraits and ' family groups ', the postcard views, Iie low-standard newspaper photographs, the ' etudes ' verging on pornography, le famous ' Paris genre ' : all these together determined the negative charactertics of photography. In this elemental flood of trash and representational npotence, those few photographer artists who for several decades had carried on le struggle for the right of genuinely artistic photography to be called an art |ere submerged. For that matter, the struggle is still going on even to-day.1 Photography became a synonym for a non-artistic reproduction of reality. Jauntier, one of the greatest caricaturists of the middle of the nineteenth century, lade a bitter and evil caricature of the photographer Nadar, who in the 'sixties as the first to take a camera up in a balloon. " Nadar raising photography to high art " was the sarcastic caption which Daumier put under his sketch 7ig. 73). But meantime, Nadar 's aerial photographs acquired the significance I genuine artistic productions, despite the fact that he had originally intended ;iem only for ' land measurement and strategy '. In his Notes on ^Esthetics Franz Mehring quotes the lines of Anzengruber, commonplace, yet overflowing with true artistic spirit," which speak of the lack of vitality of the photographic box.' Der soil sich nicht mit Kunst befassen, Der die Natur wie Jeder sieht, Er schleppt 'nen Photographenkasten, Der nur die Schulter, schief ihm zieht ; Wem irgend grosses ist gelungen, Der hat sich's selber abgerungen. Ob zart und mild, ob stark und wild ! Hast du nur deinem Werke eben Aus eignem Ich was zugegeben, So giebt's ein Bild ! 2 At the first congress of the " Russian Artists and Amateurs of Art ", held in ^94, the right of photography to call itself an art was denied with exceptional nanimity. I Instantaneous photography does not represent nature, it distorts it [said professor /itrushevsky]. Photography may serve as a simple substitute, but not as an independent means of tistic creation [declared Shaikevitch] . 1 The reader is recommended to read the highly interesting works by L. Mezheritcher, ight Influences in Photography and The Art of the Present-day (photo annuals for 1929 id 1930), from which we have taken part of our documental material. — N. 2 Let him not associate himself with art who sees nature like anyone else. He simply ills out his photographic box, which only bows his shoulders. The man who has suceded in creating something great has wrested it out of himself, whether it is soft and nder or strong and savage ! If only you have conferred on your creation something of >ur own ego, you have made a picture ! 141 i