Frame & Composition: Activity 2

"What does John Szarkowski mean when he says that photographers are quoting ‘out of context’ when they make photographic pictures?"

A: When John Szarkowski says photographers are quoting "out of context" when they make photographic pictures he means that the photographers are explicitly deciding what will be seen by their audience once the picture is complete. They are cutting and cropping and formatting their image exactly to their liking and they will thus decide how the image will be perceived by others. Also, they are allowing their audience to, somewhat, decide for themselves how the image will be seen, what is happening, and how they interpret the tone of the image to be.


"The frame often ‘dissects familiar forms’. At the end of the last century photography was having a major impact on Art. Impressionist artists such as Degas were influenced by what they saw. Look at these examples of Degas work, which clearly shows the influence of Photography, and explain why the public might have been shocked to see such paintings."

A: The public might have been shocked to see such paintings because they had never experienced art in a form that was so realistic to that of what they saw with their own eyes. People were growing accustomed to seeing images through photography that enabled light and movement and details to be captured permanently, and now artists such as Degas were developing skills in which they were able to closely imitate photography and the natural perspective of life. They were more realistic and less abstract, less traditional, than art had been previously.

This painting by Edgar Degas is called Waiting c.1882 and is clearly influenced by photography. As Degas practiced photography himself, he was aware of the importance of lighting and of certain features and focal points in a piece of art. Here, Degas balances clarity and confusion as well as the expressions of the two women in the painting. He allows fluidity to be present and this enables the audience to be guided through the piece.