ART
Photography Not Art |
Written 30 January |
Sunday 21 March, 09:30Musée d'Orsay, 75007 [map]
The son of a rich Cuban plantation owner,
P.H. Emerson began to take a passionate interest in photography in the early 1880s, when he was studying medicine in England. Initially an advocate and theoretician of "naturalistic" photography, from 1890 onwards, he moved towards a less contrived style, focusing his attention more on the landscape.
The two albums here represent defining moments in Emerson's career, and demonstrate the changes in his artistic development. Life and Landscapes on the Norfolk Broads that appeared in 1886 was his first book. Like
Jean-François Millet, his favourite subject was rural life, and he conferred monumentality to the actions and customs of country dwellers. Marsh Leaves, published in 1895, is the photographer’s last book. The peasants have disappeared, and have been replaced by landscapes, whilst naturalism gives way to a restrained, subtle poetry greatly influenced by Japanese art.
The quality of P.H. Emerson's work and its evolution alongside the emergence of Pictorialism make this artist one of the fathers of the revival of art photography.
| What: | Photography Not Art |
| When: | Sunday 21 March, 09:30 |
| Where: | Musée d'Orsay, 1, rue de la Légion d'Honneur 75007 [map] |
| Transport: | Solférino/Assemblée nationale |
| Cost: | 5,50-8EUR |
| Phone: | +33(0)1 40 49 48 14 |
| Web: | www.musee-orsay.fr |
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