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

Record Details:

Title:
The cinema as a graphic art : on a theory of representation in the cinema
Date:
1959
Publisher:
New York : Hill and Wang
Volume:
The cinema as a graphic art : on a theory of representation in the cinema
Leaf #:
000150
Language:
English
Collection:
Books
Format:
Books
Contributor:
Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
Date Added:
March 21, 2024
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THE CINEMA AS A GRAPHIC ART tendencies within the limits of the cinematic fixation of isolated fragments of in theatre spectacle. On the other there was the influence of professional phography, which, in respect to its artistic level, was outside the bounds of art. The poverty of the technical resources, the unwieldiness and immobility f the camera, the restricted possibilities of the lens and light-sensitive material 1 rendered the camera-man's work very difficult. And there was no clear und<standing of the tasks of composition as a means of expressively organising t: shot. The camera-man's sole task was the exact representation of the sit object, which was placed before the camera in the position dictated by the pe ception of the spectator watching a theatre spectacle. It was the cinematograp. of a single and moreover immobile viewpoint. Only with the arrival of artistic literature in the cinema did the demai arise for a definite aesthetic minimum in regard to the cinema shot. Enrich with new technical possibilities, the camera-man's technique sought its ov expressive resources. Endeavouring to bring elements of art into his work, ai still not knowing how to manifest those elements through the specific attribut of cinema, he built up his work by borrowing them from the pictorial arts, search of representational possibilities he copied the classic types of one or anoth school, and from that moment the cinema began to pass through a long perk of ' infantile sickness ' of pictorial imitation. J52