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Paul Strand
Paul Strand (October 16, 1890 – March 31, 1976) was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. In 1936, he helped found the Photo League, a cooperative of photographers who banded together around a range of common social and creative causes. His diverse body of work, spanning six decades, covers numerous genres and subjects throughout the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Background Paul Strand was born Nathaniel Paul Stransky on October 16, 1890, in New York; his Bohemian parents were merchant Jacob Stransky and Matilda Stransky (née Arnstein). When Paul was 12, his father gave him a camera as a present. Career In his late teens, he was a student of renowned documentary photographer Lewis Hine at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. It was while on a field trip in this class that Strand first visited the 291 art gallery – oper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wall Street (photograph)
''Wall Street ''is a platinum palladium print photograph by the American photographer Paul Strand taken in 1915. There are currently only two vintage prints of this photograph with one at the Whitney Museum of American Art (printed posthumously) and the other, along with negatives, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This photograph was included in ''Paul Strand, circa 1916'', an exhibition of photographs that exemplify his push toward modernism. It depicts a scene of everyday life in Manhattan's Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District. Workers are seen walking past the 23 Wall Street, J.P. Morgan & Co. building in New York City on the famous Wall Street, from which the photograph takes its name. The photograph is famous for its reliance on the sharpness and contrast of the shapes and angles, created by the building and the workers, that lead to its abstraction. This photograph is considered to be one of Strand's most famous works and an example of his change from picto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camera Work
''Camera Work'' was a quarterly photographic journal published by Alfred Stieglitz from 1903 to 1917. It presented high-quality photogravures by some of the most important photographers in the world, with the goal to establish photography as a fine art. It has been called "consummately intellectual", "by far the most beautiful of all photographic magazines", and "a portrait of an age n whichthe artistic sensibility of the nineteenth century was transformed into the artistic awareness of the present day." Background At the start of the 20th century Alfred Stieglitz was the single most important figure in American photography. He had been working for many years to raise the status of photography as a fine art by writing numerous articles, creating exhibitions, exhibiting his own work and, especially by trying to influence the artistic direction of the highly important Camera Club of New York. He was not successful in the latter, and as a result by the spring of 1902 he was both fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abstract Art
Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new kind of art which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. The sources from which individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse, and reflected the social and intellectual preoccupations in all areas of Western culture at that time. Abstract art, non-figurative art, non-objective art, and non-representational art are all closely related terms. They have similar, but perhaps not identical, meanings. Abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art. This departure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Plow That Broke The Plains
''The Plow That Broke the Plains'' is a 1936 short documentary film that shows the cultivation of the Great Plains region of the United States and Canada following the Civil War and leading up to the Dust Bowl as a result of farmers' exploitation of the Great Plains' natural resources.''The Plow That Broke the Plains'' was the first film created by the US government for commercial release and distribution through the Resettlement Administration as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal program. The Resettlement Administration recruited Pare Lorentz to produce ''The Plow That Broke the Plains'' to support its campaign of showing the public that the search for profits in the West resulted in the displacement of settlers, misuse of the land, and ultimately resulted in the dust storms that affected the Great Plains regions in the 1930s. The film was one of the most widely publicized attempts by the U.S. federal government to communicate to its citizens through motion pictures. '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1936 In Film
The following is an overview of 1936 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1936 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events *January 9 – Silent screen actor John Gilbert, perhaps best known for his appearances in films such as ''The Merry Widow'' and ''The Big Parade'', dies suddenly of a heart attack at his Bel Air home, aged 38. *February 15 – first Republic serial, ''Darkest Africa'', is released. *May 29 – Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film, '' Fury'', starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released. *September 14 – Film producer Irving Thalberg, often referred by many as the "Boy Wonder of Hollywood", dies from pneumonia at his home in Santa Monica, aged 37. Academy Awards * Best Picture: ''The Great Ziegfeld'' – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer * Best Director: Frank Capra – ''Mr. Deeds Goes to Town'' * Best Actor: Paul Muni – ''The St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Redes (film)
''Redes'' is a Mexican film, released in 1936, about the fishing community of Alvarado on the Gulf Coast of Mexico, near the city of Veracruz. The film's title comes from the Spanish word ''redes'' ("nets") in reference to fishing nets. The English-language edition's title is ''The Wave'' (apparently referring to imagery at the end of the film). ''Redes'' was made with a mainly non-professional cast and has been seen as anticipating Italian neorealism. It concerns the struggle of poor fishermen to overcome exploitation. Production Paul Strand began work on the project, which was originally conceived as a documentary, in 1933. He had come to Mexico at the invitation of the Mexican composer Carlos Chávez, who had a government job promoting the arts under the socialist education minister Narciso Bassols. The film developed into a work of fiction with a scenario by Strand and Agustín Chávez, nephew of the composer. Towards the end of 1933, Henwar Rodakiewicz, a friend of Strand' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Sheeler
Charles Sheeler (July 16, 1883 – May 7, 1965) was an American artist known for his Precisionist paintings, commercial photography, and the avant-garde film, ''Manhatta'', which he made in collaboration with Paul Strand. Sheeler is recognized as one of the early adopters of modernism in American art. Early life and career Charles Rettew Sheeler Jr. was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art from 1900 to 1903, and then the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied under William Merritt Chase. He found early success as a painter and exhibited at the Macbeth Gallery in 1908. Most of his education was in drawing and other applied arts. He went to Italy with other students, where he was intrigued by the Italian painters of the Middle Ages, such as Giotto and Piero della Francesca. After a trip to Paris in 1909, Sheeler was inspired by works of Cubist artists like Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Returning to the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silent Film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when necessary, be conveyed by the use of title cards. The term "silent film" is something of a misnomer, as these films were almost always accompanied by live sounds. During the silent era that existed from the mid-1890s to the late 1920s, a pianist, theater organist—or even, in large cities, a small orchestra—would often play music to accompany the films. Pianists and organists would play either from sheet music, or improvisation. Sometimes a person would even narrate the inter-title cards for the audience. Though at the time the technology to synchronize sound with the film did not exist, music was seen as an essential part of the viewing experience. "Silent film" is typically used as a historical term to describe an era of cinema pri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1921 In Film
The following is an overview of 1921 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top seven films released in 1921 by U.S. gross are as follows: Events *January 21 – The silent comedy drama ''The Kid'', written by, produced by, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin (in his Tramp character) – his first full-length film as a director – and featuring Jackie Coogan, is released in the United States. It is the year's second-highest-grossing film. *March 6 – The silent epic war film '' The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'', adapted for the screen by June Mathis, is released in the United States. It is the year's highest-grossing film (and the sixth-best-grossing silent film of all time), propels Rudolph Valentino to stardom and inspires a tango craze and a fashion for gaucho pants. *August 29 – Broadway's first $1 million theatre, Loew's State opens. *September 5 – Popular comedian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manhatta
''Manhatta'' (1921) is a short documentary film directed by painter Charles Sheeler and photographer Paul Strand. Production background ''Manhatta'' documents the look of early 20th-century Manhattan. With the city as subject, the film consists of 65 shots sequenced in a loose non-narrative structure, beginning with the Staten Island ferry approaching Manhattan and ending with a sunset view from a skyscraper. It is considered by some to be the first American avant-garde film. The primary objective of the film is to explore the relationship between photography and film; camera movement is kept to a minimum, as is incidental motion within each shot. Each frame provides a view of the city that has been carefully arranged into abstract compositions. ''Manhatta'' was a collaboration between painter/photographer Charles Sheeler and photographer Paul Strand. The intertitles include excerpts from the writings of Walt Whitman. Preservation status In 1995 the film was selected for prese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nancy Newhall
Nancy Wynne Newhall (May 9, 1908 – July 7, 1974) was an American photography critic. She is best known for writing the text to accompany photographs by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, but was also a widely published writer on photography, conservation, and American culture. Biography Newhall was born Nancy Wynne in Lynn, Massachusetts, and attended Smith College in that state. She married Beaumont Newhall, the curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and substituted for him in that role during his military service in World War II. During the 1940s she wrote essays on popular art and culture for small magazines and journals, in which she called for a society more attuned to art, and particularly to visual art. Newhall was always more interested in a popular audience than an academic one; in a 1940 essay, she explores the possibilities of the new medium of television for popularizing the visual arts, suggesting techniques for teaching art and photogra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
