The Vision Of Architecture

Page 1

-1-

MATTHEW LAMBERT BA3 ARCHITECTURE

ARC220: DISSERTATION STUDIES

PHOTOGRAPHY: THE VISION OF ARCHITECTURE


-2-

PHOTOGRAPHY-THE VISION OF ARCHITECTURE Contents: 1.

Introduction a. Realising The Vision b. A History Of Architectural Photography

2.

A Part Of The Visual Language Of Architecture: a. Documenting Architecture – The Informative Style b. The Development of Contrasting Approaches – Art Vs. Information c. A New Photography of Art and Information d. The Visual Language Of Modernism e. Art And Information

03.

The Architectural Photograph As A Tool Of The Promoter a. The Distribution Of Images b. The Relationship Of Architect and Photographe c. Social Awareness Of Cosumerist Idealism d. Architectural Photography Today

04.

Visualising Architecture a. Architectural Photography Today b. Architectural Photography As Art c. The Vision Of Architecture References Bibliography


-3-

01 – Introduction

Fig. 1 Photographer: Eric De Mare Self Portrait

a. Realising The Vision Architecture and architectural photography have shared a close relationship from the beginning of the 20 th Century. Photography has provided an insight into past architecture, affected design movements and allowed us to draw conclusions about the way in which Architecture is perceived. I have looked at styles in architectural photography by considering two ends of the spectrum with pictorialism on the one hand and representationalism on the other. Inevitably though, just as architectural language takes account of both the detail and the wider context of the building the most successful examples fall somewhere in between the artistic and the merely documentary. I have investigated a theme which seems to run throughout the story of architectural photograph: the extent to which architectural photography is art or information. Photographers are both in the business of providing information and interpreting to provide artistic insight, conveying the language of architecture and making stylistic choices to dictate its representation.


-4I wanted to look at the use of Architectural photography as a promotional tool for the architect,

This study also considers whether the camera

truthfully depicts buildings and how in striving to promote the building/architect the photographer sometimes neglects the buildings users. I have looked at how pictures have been used to encourage an awareness of architecture in a social context. The study also considers the emergence of architectural photography as art in its own right. b. Overview: A History Of Architectural Photography

In 1839 the Daguerrotype was revealed and became the first viable photographic process, it was invented by a painter who’s mission to depict architecture had led to its invention, and was a direct positive image formed on a silver-coated copper plate. The photograph became a powerful tool with which to record architecture, as up until its invention there was a reliance on precise illustration and engravings 1. Photography’s new method of

representation boasted a number of

advantages over traditional methods: it could record accurate detail; was a lot quicker than drawing; and it was an precise and accurate way of recording that appeared to expel human error prevalent in traditional documenting. Photographs were also used as a method of recording architectural precedents from around the world and allowed architects to see buildings and styles that without photography wouldn’t have had such an influence on their stylistic sensibilities. During this period architectural thought and inspiration was directed to the past and photography was used as a method of recording historic monuments the quality of which was dictated by the technological limits of the medium 2. People featured little in early photographs due to the long exposure times needed for early emulsion’s low sensitivity and sky’s were dull white patches due to the emulsion being oversensitive to the colour blue. Early photographic equipment wasn’t easy to use on site, it was bulky and produced small mirror images 2. The daguerrotype process was by no means perfect, and most held the view that earlier modes of representation - plan section and elevation were far superior.


-5The 1860’s saw a style emerge due to a more entrepreneurial outlook that many photographers adopted during this period. It was also at this time when the first architects were seeing potential in photographs as conveyors of information, they documented not only their work in progress but past completed projects with which to impress possible future clients 2. The photography of this period was greatly affected by the spread of urbanization, and many buildings were photographed as a record for future development of the area. Large sweeping views of cities and panorama’s of the urban environment looked to promote a message of civilization and progress 2. Figure 2 shows an example of a photo used to record architecture that was soon to be demolished.

Fig. 2 Photographer: Marshall Wayne Photo Of House, Edinborough

A major leap forward in terms of distribution of architectural photography occurred in the 1880’s, the half-tone block allowed the reproduction of both image and text onto the printed page. Soon a number of magazines such as the

Architectural review (1891) were created beginning the

spread architectural discourse to the masses that would have a great influence not just on Architectural photography but on the way in which the whole of Architecture was perceived.


-6In the early 1900’s architects began to recognise photography’s potential as a promotional tool, with their buildings becoming known through images in journals, architects realised that to embrace the medium would mean a direct control over both their own image and the image of the buildings they created. The modernist movement in architecture radically changed the styles adopted by architectural photographers and prompted a new consideration of machines and and industry. For the next decade architectural photography embraced modernism and was crucial in the distribution of its image to the masses, two prime providers of modernist imagery were Hedrich Blessing and Dell & Wainwright. 2 Architectural photography looked to provide the imagery that would compliment the literature and design ethos of the modernist movement with journals now allowing a combination of words and images that could be used to influence the way architecture was perceived. The second world war prompted an evaluation of national monuments and buildings to be recorded by photographic means as a method of preservation in case they were bombed.

In England The National

Buildings Record was founded in 1941 capturing images of national pride to be used as propaganda. Fig. 3 Photographer : Herbert Mason Saint Paul’s, London, in the Blitz, 29 December 1940

2


-7This photo appeared in the Daily Mail in 1940 and was used as propaganda to strengthen the nations resolve.

3

There were no large changes to the photographic style prevalent in the 1930’s after the war, photographers instead refined and perfected previous ideas about composition and light.

Post-war photographers

found an interest in re-evaluating their heritage and investigating what had been protected during the war. Architectural photographers of the next two decades were split between those photographers who concentrated on contemporary buildings and photographers with a revived interest in vernacular architecture, such as Eric de Mare. Eric de Mare’s photo’s of the British vernacular formulated his theory of the ‘functionalist tradition’, and looked to finding a direct link between past industrial architectural heritage and modern functionalist theories. The post-war architectural photography in the United States was dominated by three main photographers, Julius Shulman, Ezra Stoller and the distinctive style of Hedrich Blessing. Stoller rejected the style prevalent in the 1930’s of distorting ‘forced perspective’ and ‘queer angles’ using a much more restrained classical approach of elevational images capturing accurate portraits of the architects idea 2. Shulman’s perspective was one of relating a lifestyle to architecture. His photo’s of the case study houses 1945-67 are utopian images of a consumerist dream.4 John Donat was a reactionary against this kind of ‘perfectionist’ photography, looking to portray architecture in a more messy realistic way. The last thirty years have seen the emergence of colour effecting postmodern architecture, and digital technology posing questions as to the future of the medium.

3 2


-8-

02 - A Part Of The Visual Language Of Architecture a. Documenting Architecture - The Informative Style

The 1840s-1860s saw many expeditions across the world documenting famous architectural sites of cultural significance. The architect has always looked for ways of recording precedents to aid him in analysis and photography had an immeasurable effect on the ease and accuracy with which ancient architecture could be documented, allowing a more detailed and thorough investigation of precedents and architectural styles.The photograph proved an invaluable means of recording architecture as up until its invention there was a reliance on precise illustration and engravings to document buildings 5. Architects were influenced by these photographs of architecture from different cultures and many architects used them as direct visual inspiration for reapplying in designs of their own. In the 1870’s Antoni Gaudi studied heliotype reproductions of photographs of architecture acquired by the Escuela de Arquitectura de Barcelona of many varied styles from Spanish to Egyptian.

2

In 1880 T.R Smith remarked in ‘The Practice of An Architect’ “foreign travel, photography and the multiplication of all kinds of pictorial illustrations, have made all the art of the past property of the present … our very wealth of knowledge is always likely to prevent our universal adherence to any one style or manner in art”

6


-9-

Fig. 4 James Hay Unexecuted Design for the Anglican Cathedral Liverpool

Figure 4 highlights the possible danger of photography as an informant, spreading multi-cultural information that could be misinterpreted and is a sentiment that resonated in the twentieth century with the spread of the international style. Many architects in the twentieth century only saw the international style in architecture through photographs, and photographs of the day were black and white. This led to architects misguidedly design in a monochromatic International style.

7

b. The Development of Contrasting Styles When photography was invented to many it was seen as a way of imitating art. The advancement in technology allowing more accurate representations of architecture prompted a step away from photography as art towards photography as information. As early architectural photographers experimented more with the medium they developed an artistic style that looked to capture the atmosphere of the architecture. In a major photographic expedition in the 1850s five architectural photographers were assigned specific regions of France where they recorded several cultural buildings.

8

The results of the

’Voyages picturesque et romantiques dans l’ancienne France’ showed that Photographers could impress their own style upon the photo, the


- 10 photograph was being used as part of the language of architecture. Two stylistically contrasting architectural photographers of the expedition were Jean-Louis-Henri Le Secq Des Tournelles and Edouard Baldus

Fig. 5 Photographer: Jean-Louis Henri Le Secq Des Tournelles West Door, Church of Saint-Loup,

Fig. 6 Photographer: Edouard Baldus Temple of Augustus and Livia, Vienne, 1851 Salt Print

1851 Salt Print

It is clear that the photographers have addressed their subject in different ways. Baldus looking to record as much detail as possible of the whole building and Le Secq taking a small fragment to show the building’s emotive characteristics. Figure 1. shows Le secq’s use of light and shadow to emphasise architectural detail of the building fragment, whereas in Figure 2. Baldus takes account of the whole building and uses sharp contrasts to render fine detail. These contrasting ways of looking at architecture were to resonate throughout the history of its photography. The pictorialist style was a reaction against more precise methods of photography, immitating painting rather than striving for accurate detail. Advancements in technology allowing photographers to record buildings with ever more refined detail strengthened the divide between the pictorialist and architectural photographers.


- 11 -

Fig 7.

Fig 8.

Photographer: Alfred Stieglitz

Photographer: Bedford lemere and co

Flatiron building, New York, 1903

Charles Jenner & Co., Edinburgh, 1895

Gravure on vellum

Gelatine silver print

Architect: Daniel H Burnham

Architect: George Beattie & Son

Figures 7. and 9. show how this contrast in styles in architectural photography developed into the late 1800’s early 1900’s. Alfred Stieglitz was a proponent of the Pictorialist style and Figure 9 shows pictorialisms power in capturing an ethereal atmosphere, the building rising up behind the trees as a statement of the power of architecture in dominating the landscape. Figure 4 shows Bedford Lemere and Co.s predilection with the strict informative style and translates the grandiose architectural beauty with sharp contrasting shadows. The separation in architectural photography between art and information continued into the twentieth century, but the way in which each approach developed began to blur the boundaries as architectural photographers started investigating exactly what a photograph can reveal.


- 12 -

c. A New Photography of Art And Information The modern movement in architecture brought about a change in the responsibilities of the architectural photograph with architects now using it not only as a tool with which to spread the message of modernism to the media but with which to inspire a new way of thinking about design. Moholy-Nagy, a prominent

member of the Bauhaus from 1921

encouraged greater experimentation in different types of photographic images and was inspired by cubism and constructivism.

8

The ‘New Objectivity’ movement had a profound effect on the style of architectural photography and in Germany photographers developed the ‘New Photography’, a precise style the ethos of which was to portray the materiality and raw elements of the architecture using abstract geometry 9. Albert Renger-Patzsch was a prominent architectural photographer of the New photography. His philosophy concentrated on the clear depiction of surfaces and expressing isolated details in buildings to prompt an abstract consideration of form.


- 13 -

Fig. 9

Fig. 10

Photographer: Laszlo Moholy Nagy

Photographer: Albert Renger Patzsch

Bauhuas Balconies, Dessau, 1926

Blast Furnaces, Herrenwick 1927

Gelatine silver print

Gelatine silver print.

Architect: Walter Gropius

d. The Visual Language Of Modernism In figure 6 we can see how Patzsch brings together light and dark elements to express a specific geometric relationship of masses. Two divisions of new photography existed in the 1920s, one of which was Patzsch was a proponent the other Mohohly Nagy headed with Alexander Rodchenko to investigative a more expressive style. They focused on the use of ‘birds-eye’ and ‘worms-eye’ views to present ‘new experiences of space’

10

. Their investigations prompted a new way of thinking in

photography towards portraying space and volume. In figure 5 the tilted view and extreme perspective give a tremendous sense of height and space.


- 14 -

Fig. 11

Fig. 12

Photographer: Dell & Wainwright

Photographer: Francis Rowland Yerbury

Gull Rock, Carlyon Bay, Cornwall 1936

Sprinkenhof, Hamburg, 1929

Gelatine silver print

Gelatine silver print

Architect: Marshall Sisson

Architect: Fritz Hoger with Hans & Oskar Gerson

The effect of the New Photography was profound and photography was now seen as a key conveyor of the language of modernism. From the 1930’s photography started to be the driving force behind its promotion, Dell & Wainwright, and Francis Yerbury exemplifying the stylistic approach of architectural photographers of this period.

8

Yerbury’s style was not extreme in its compositional emphasis but the subject matter of his images were innovative, taking the role of stylistic informant and allowing British architects insight into modernist architecture abroad. In Figure 12 the photograph’s almost Patzsch-like geometry and concentration on the buildings façade surface depicting the array of windows in an enticing yet unstifling composition. Dell and Wainwright first appeared in the Architectural Review in 1929 with ground-breaking photographs entirely encapsulating the modernist spirit(ref bwl). The images of Dell and Wainwright use the camera’s


- 15 abilities to powerful effect expressing the dramatics of architecture using many key devices of new photography, bold cast shadows, tipped views with strong diagonals. Figure 11. uses a one point perspective to effectively expand and exagerate space.

Fig. 13

Fig. 14

Photographer: Lucien Herve

Photographer: Ezra Stoller

Villa Shodan,

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Ahmedabad, 1955

New York, 1963

Architect: Le Corbusier

Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright

Figure 13 and 14 contrast in terms of texture but share a commonality of purpose, they both strive to depict form and space. Figure 13 shows Herve’s style of photography with its striking use of shadows and composition which complimented Le Corbusiers personal view of architecture as the ‘shrewd, rigorous and magnificent play of volumes assembled in light’.11 Much of Herve’s inspiration stems from his interest in New photography’s abstract views and concentration on expressing the materials. The photograph shows his use of light and shadow to sculpt the ‘Beton brut’ creation Villa Shodan by Le Corbusier, expressing both the solidity and seeming plasticity of concrete. In Figure 10 Ezra Stoller uses a similar upward looking perspective looking to convey a spatial relationship and give an amazing sense of depth trying to emulate the experience of


- 16 being inside the Guggenheim. Stoller took a classical approach to photography and the use of elevational shots were common in his work much like Baldus a century earlier. The subtly of his style looked to capture a bold and simplified image which translated the architecture directly without over dramatising. The crisp precise style of Stoller allows the architecture to speak without distorting or mistranslating the visual language. e. Art And Information As photographers commanded a more sophisticated approach to the medium an interdependence between the objects photographed and the two dimensional images of them developed. This interdependence developed to the point where architectural photography became an integral part of design communication. The philosophy of architectural photographers vary but two key traits that can be traced through the above figures (5-14) is that of Art and Information. The style chosen by the photographer

reflects

their

philosophy

towards

architectural

representation. The first style is of an architectural photography that looks to purvey information: Informative Style -Taking an informative and subjective viewpoint, looking to document and simply ‘show’ the architecture to the viewer. For example the photo’s of Baldus, Renger-Patzsch and Stoller show similar philosophies with a view to accurately represent the architecture with an emphasis of showing a particular architectural quality the photographer thought prevailed, this style can be seen in Fig. 2,4,6,8 and 10.


- 17 Artistic Style - Using the camera creatively to convey the language of the architecture it depicts. Photographers who exemplify this style are Alfred Stieglitz, Mohohly Nagy and Lucien Herve and can be seen by the photographs in Fig 1,3,5,7,9 illuminating a view of architecture as art, of the photograph as interpreter and as an inspiration to the viewing of Architecture in unusual ways. This style can also be used to influence and persuade, utilised to useful effect by photographers involved in promotion. 03 - Architectural Photography: A Tool For Promotion The photograph provides a way of conveying an image and a message of architecture, and with the invention of magazines and journals its pictorial representation became widespread. Architects at the start of the twentieth century started to realise the visual impact of photograph could have on its viewer and they began to consider their value in promoting their work. a.The Distribution Of Images The rise of the architectural photograph coincided with the rise of popular magazines and journals. Although at first photography was unable to contribute due to its incompatibility with type, with the invention of the halftone block in the late 1880’s photographs and typed words were able to be printed onto the same page.12 This meant that architectural photography could make a valid contribution to architectural debate. Magazines such as the Architectural Record, Architectural Review and Country Life. began to be published. This opened up an avenue of promotion for the architect in which buildings could be shown via the medium of Architectural Photography. The realisation that to embrace the medium would mean a direct control over both their own image and the buildings they created led to several architects to taking up photography, Frank Lloyd Wright used cleaned up versions of photo’s and Le Corbusier practiced photography for a time. 12


- 18 -

Fig. 17 Architectural Review Vol. 85 march 1939

From the start of the twentieth century Architectural photography provided the imagery to compliment the literature and design ethos of the modernist movement with journals now allowing a combination of words and images that could be used to influence the way architecture was perceived (Figure 17). In the early 1900s as images of architecture became more widespread architects began to realise that photographs weren’t just mirror images of the architecture they depicted, that in fact the photographer has several editorial choices effecting the photograph’s composition and in turn the perception of the architecture. b. The Relationship Between Architect And Photographer As architects realised the potential of Photography as a tool of promotion relationships

developed

between

architects

and

photographers

sympathetic to their particular design style, with many photographers becoming lifelong documenters of one particular Architect. An important example of such a relationship is Richard Neutra and the photographer Julius Shulman, their meeting in 1939 effectively starting Shulman’s career13.


- 19 -

Fig 18 – Photographer: Julius Shulman Case Study House #22 Los Angeles, 1960 Architect: Pierre Koenig

Shulman’s images were regularly featured in popular magazines of the day such House and Garden, Good housekeeping and Life using people in his pictures with which to show architecture as a fashionable accessory to living. Figure 18 shows Shulmans iconic image of the Case Study House #22 and is a prime example of Shulmans ability to create images of the modernist American dream, looked at with a critical eye the images were nothing but staged reproductions of real life situations for which the building was to function. In ‘Architecture and Its Photography’ Shulman recounts a story which highlights the danger of the architect closely associating with the photographer –

‘…while I was photographing the business education building by architect Richard Neutra and focusing my camera a blurred object suddenly appeared on the ground glass of the camera. Lifting my head I observed Neutra holding a small branch within inches of my camera lens “Richard,”


- 20 I exclaimed, “what are you doing?” He said, that he wanted to “cover the area where the building met the concrete walk, the contractor didn’t do it right!”’14 The danger of an over sympathetic Architectural photographer it seems was to present an unrealistic image of architecture. The growing imagery of the modernist movement of seemingly ‘perfect’ imagery was criticised for simply engaging on a fashionable or stylistic level and not getting in touch with the actual architectural qualities present. Images were being produced by the architect’s personal photographers and being sold to magazines rather than the magazines employing critical photo-journalists. This meant the type of imagery contained in journals of the day were clean images of a modernism that appeared to ‘work’ as apposed to addressing the often harsh and aesthetically less pleasing realities present in the building. Many buildings which Dell and Wainwright photographed suffered from structural faults and staining of materials 15 Dell and Wainwright’s ‘artistic license’ transcends the physicality of architecture to promote conceptual idea’s and in doing so neglects the people who use the building. This led to a reaction against this sort of imagery, and asked if Architectural photography could benefit from being more socially aware. d. Social Awareness or Consumerist Idealism In 1979 an article in the Architects Journal ‘The Craven Image’, Tom Picton raises an important question: ‘To whom is the Architectural Photographer responsible? To the architect or to the people who are actually going to use the building?’ It is a question posed to John Donat who responds ‘to both-you must’. 16 Donat was a photographer who spoke out against past promotionalist propaganda photography like that of Dell and Wainwright, remarking that this kind of photography ‘ignores life’ 17 and that architectural photography


- 21 is a subsitute for real experience’ 18. In his talk at the RIBA entitled ‘The Camera Always Lies’ Donat speaks out against many traditional methods in Architectural Photography such as the Camera with rising front, claiming it lends itself to stale photography. ‘By the time the porters have unpacked all the gear and set it all up – the picture has walked away’

19

Donat instead preferring a quicker more convenient method using smaller camera’s to capture an ‘experience’ rather than looking for a picture. Donat’s images look to capture the architecture in use as apposed to photography in which he felt ‘reality and experience disappear - ART prevails’.20 Donats aim is to try to give the viewer an experience of the building as if they have been there. When we compare Donats image (Figure 19) with that of Shulman we can see that both Photographers looked to express the architecture using people. Shulman uses people like actors on a stage set rather than using them in a more realistic manner such as in Donat’s image.

Fig. 19.

Fig. 20

Photographer: John Donat

Photographer: Julius Shulman

Physics Library At Queen Mary University

Case Study #21, 1958


- 22 Library London, 1962

Figure 19 and 20 also show a difference in the philosophies of the two photographers. Shulman’s image is a picture for the consumer, an advert for living, whereas Donat’s image looks to experience the more messy realistic side of buildings as they are experienced in reality. If we ask the question which of which photograph Figure 19 or 20 would sell the architecture more successfully? A popular answer would be 20. The biggest provider of architectural imagery is the journal. The Journals aim is for the promotion of architecture, this means that the majority of images produced are that of Figure 20, i.e a style with which to sell architecture to a wider audience. 04 - Visualising Architecture Architectural Photographers have always addressed the either or both of two key elements, Art and Information. These elements are observations by photographers striving to depict what is ‘Architecture’. Architecture is complex in representing, therefore photographers have a challenge to depict Architecture completely accurately. a. Architectural Photography Today Architectural photography currently is widespread, although its major outlet is in Architectural Journals. There is a rising criticism that architectural photography of the media i.e. in journals, is becoming ever more fashion conscious and instead of using the camera to show structure and a spatial planning for which it is a valuable tool, the camera is used as a simple tool to convey style. On the other hand it could be argued that improvements in detail and technical drawing in journals has led to photography becoming slightly redundant. It is obvious however that


- 23 photography remains a very important element in the promotion and representation of architecture, an image can still sell a building. b. Architectural Photography As Art Architectural photography in recent years has seen artists embracing the medium and benefitting from museums and galleries increased interest in Architectural Photography. Architectural photography is starting to cross the boundary between artistic interpretation of architecture into an artistic transformation with computer manipulation opening new avenues, asking how architectural photography should be depicted in this new digital medium. Hiroshi Sugimoto prompts us to look at architecture in a way that allows us to ponder the inherent fragility of buildings. His photographs of contemporary Architecture render buildings as blurred images that remove all the detail and as a result slow down the initial impact of the image, and allow it to form in our percieved subconscious (Fig. 15) 21.

Fig 15. Photographer: Hiroshi Sugimoto, Chrysler Building, New York, 1997 Architect: William Van Alen,


- 24 -

Fig 16. Photographer: Thomas Ruff The Barcelona Pavilion, Barcelona (from the Exhibition ‘l.m.v.d.r.’ 2000) Architect: Mies Van Der Rohe

The work of Thomas Ruff exemplifies a current digitised outlook toward photography and art. His photographs look to explore the realm of perception and what we can interpret from an image. Ruff’s photographs use computer manipulation and looks at the way in which we percieve the image, his view being ‘perception has less to do with what we see that with what our brain does with the information’

22

. In 2000 he undertook a

project taking photo’s of Mies Van Der Rohes buildings, the exhibition entitled ‘l.m.v.d.r’ looks at computer manipulation as a way of addressing the representation of architecture investigating how the medium can express how it architecture is percieved. Ruff’s work also poses questions as to in what way will architectural photographers respond to computers allowing a new way of manipulating imagery, and could mean a shift in what is acceptable as a representation of a building. Such Artistic ventures give us a separate standpoint with which to view architecture and indeed architectural photography with new eyes.


- 25 c. Architectural Photograpy As Social Commentator Architectural photography’s use in recent social documentation has allowed new approaches to Architectural subjects providing new insight into Architecture. Gabriele Basilico and his compatriots Mimmo Jodice, Vincenzo Castella and Guido Guidi use black and white photographs document chillingly desolate images of the city which he uses to depict the way in which the urban experience has become unrelated to the cities historic core23. Figure 21. addresses the issues of urbanisms supposed liberator: the elevated road, showing the city’s stark reality.

Fig. 21 Photographer: Mimmo Jodice Naples, 1978 Gelatine silver print


- 26 d.The Vision Of Architecture Architecture is both about the small details, and the bigger picture, Architectural photographers have grown to realise this since they began capturing it. They have realised that a concentration on detail and information can give us great insight but an ‘artistic’ impression perhaps tells us more of the larger picture. For example the work of sharp precise work of Baldus giving us an insight into the detailed physicality of the architecture is no more valid than Alfred Stieglitz’ contrasting artistic approach in conveying an architectural sense to the viewer. The Architectural photograph is a complex method of representation and can satisfy a range of objectives and to provide a vision of ‘Architecture’ the photographer must be able to comprimise, between art and information, between social reality and consumerist idealism, and depending on its use either as a tool for promotion or social commentator, shed new photographic light on the subject. The camera cannot show all but the photographer can choose what to express. In the words of photographer Eric De Mare: ‘The camera is a liar…but it can indicate some of the truth’ 24


- 27 References


1

‘Daguerre and Niépce - The invention of photography’ from About Photography - http://photography.about.com

2

Robert Elwall, Building With Light – An International History Of Architectural Photography, Merrel, 2004

2

23

Daily Mail 11th December 29 1940 pg 13.

2

4

Julius Shulman, Architecture And Its Photography, Cologne and London (Taschen), 1998

5

Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture – A Critical History, Thames & Hudson, Third Edition 1992

2

6

T.R.Smith, ‘The Practice Of The Architect’, British Quarterly, 1880 p.426

7

The Architects Journal August 1979 ‘The Craven Image’

8

Robert Elwall - Building With Light – An International History Of Architectural Photography, Merrel, 2004

8

9

Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture – A Critical History, Thames & Hudson, Third Edition, 1992

10

Lazlo Moholy Nagy ‘A New Instrument Of Vision’ Telehor Vol 1February 1936 p.36

8

11

Domus 2002 Mar n846 p.20

12

Robert Elwall - Building With Light – An International History Of Architectural Photography, Merrel, 2004

1

13

Julius Shulman, Architecture And Its Photography, Cologne and London (Taschen), 1998

14

Julius Shulman, Architecture And Its Photography, Cologne and London (Taschen), 1998 pg. 137

15

Robert Elwall - Building With Light – An International History Of Architectural Photography, Merrel, 2004

16

The Architects Journal 1st August 1979 ‘The Craven Image’ pg. 232

17

Ibid.

18

The Architects Journal, 17th January 1998 pg. 198

19

RIBA Journal 1968 Vol 75 ‘The Camera Always Lies’ Feb p.63

20

Ibid.

21

22

23

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Architecture - Marco De Michelis, Francesco Bonami 2003 A thousand words: Thomas Ruff Talks about "l.m.v.d.r." – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Brief Article Summer, 2001 by Ronald Jones from findarticles.com Gabriele Basilico - Interupted City , Actar, 1999


24

The Architects Journal 17 January 1968

Bibliography BooksIain Borden, Katerina Ruedi, ‘The Dissertation – An Architecture Student’s Handbook’, Architectural Press 2000. Gabriele Basilico, Interupted City, Actar, 1999 T.R.Smith, ‘The Practice Of The Architect’, British Quarterly, 1880 Kenneth Frampton, ‘Modern Architecture – A Critical History’ Thames & Hudson, Third Edition, 1992 Hiroshi Sugimoto: Architecture - Marco De Michelis, Francesco Bonami 2003 Robert Elwall, ‘Building With Light – An International History Of Architectural Photography’ Merrel, 2004 Robert Elwall, ‘Photography Takes Command: The Camera And British Architecture 1890-1939’ London, RIBA Heinz gallery 1994 Robert Elwall , ‘Eric De Mare -Architecture In Camera series’ London, Riba publications 2000 Architectural Photography and the Growth of Cities 1850-1914, Stuttgart, 1980 Building Images: Seventy Years Of Photography at Hedich Blessing, Chronicle Books, 2000 Malcom Daniel, The Photographs Of Edouard Baldus, New York, Metropolitan Museum Of Art 1994 Eric de Mare, Photography and Architecture, London, Architectural Press 1961 Norman McGrath, Photographing Buildings Inside and Out, London, Architectural Press, 1987 Julius Shulman, ‘Architecture And Its Photography’, Cologne and London, Taschen, 1998 Julius Shulman, ‘Photographing Architecture and Interiors’. Los Angeles, Balcony Press

JournalsDomus 2002 Mar n846 p.17-20 The Architects Journal 17 January 1968 The Architects Journal 1st August 1979 The Architects Journal 14th August 1991 The Architects Journal 31st January 2002 v215 P.19 The Architects Journal 4th October 1989 v190 p.90-91 The Architects Journal 16th October 1990 v192 p.90-92 RIBA Journal February 1968 p.63 RIBA Journal July 1991 AA Files Autumn 1991 No.22 p70-74


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.