Assignment 007: Photography as Contemporary Art & Stephen Shore

"Photography as Contemporary Art"

Review
 

"Photography as Contemporary Art" recognized some key players in the contemporary art movement for photography.  All of the photographers mentioned have been able to change what is accepted as art, and what will in the future be accepted. Even photographers who were not of the same period, may have shared the same ideas, and stirred a movement.  William Eggleston and Stephen Shore were both huge players in making color photography a viable art form outside of the commercial field, for example.  Bernd and Hilla Becher were a German couple that brought notice to the vernacular forms in photography.  They are highly recognized for their black and white grids of architectural images.  Their images bring together the idea of history and modernity.  In today's community, art is often geared towards what the audience wants and the possibility of being in a gallery. Works from photographers like Seydou Keita, David Goldblatt, and Ralph Eugene Meatyard did not give this idea much attention and their work boomed in the 1990's.  During this time it is also when color photography began being the main form of photography where before it was considered for commercial use only.  The Malian Seydou Keita brought graphic and simple beauty to the contemporary art photography field.  He brought international notice to the impact of apartheited.  Keita was key in making documentary photography notice, and bringing light to a very troubled history.  All of these photographers, regardless of their work or ages, collaboratively helped shape contemporary photography and bring new meanings to photography as an art form every day. 

Stephen Shore

Bio: Shore is an American photographer born in New York in 1947.  He began his career at a very young age.  At the age of six, his uncle gave him a dark room kit and since then he has been a photographer.  When he was only 14, he met with the then curator of photography at MoMA.  After this meeting, the curator bought three of his photographers.  By the time Shore was 17 he began spending time in Andy Warhol's Factory and photogrpahing the characters that passed through there.  At the age of 24, Shore became the second living person to have a solo show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  While he spent the beginning of his career working only in black and white photography, in 1973 he began using color.  Shore's color work was a crucial player in making color photography a valid art form.

 Paul Morrissey, Edie Sedgwick

1965-1967

black and white photograph

12 3/4 x 19 inches

Diana Hall Pointing a Gun at Andy's Head

1965-1967

black and white photograph

12 3/4 x 19 inches