Pictorialism an International Style & Aesthetic movement that dominated photography in the late 1800's and early 19th Century

PICTORIALISM, was an approach to photography that emphasised the beauty of the subject matter, its tonality and composition rather than the documentation of reality.

Wharf .. by Angie Finn

The Pictorial Movement of the Late 1800's and early 19th Century, its aim was to advance the status of Photography as a Fine Art with the emphasis on the craftsmanship involved in photography.
It was the modern Avant Garte photography of its time.

The term pictorial describes a photograph in which the actual scene is shown for the aesthetic and emotional impact.  The Pictorial photographer saw this as more important that simply recording what was in front of the camera. 

At the time photography was seen simply as a representation of reality.  As a medium for artistic expression it was rated the lowest of all because of its limitations. The pictorial photographer believed that a photograph was not just a record of what was in front of the camera but that with the use of artistic flair and artistic interpretation a photograph could stimulate the viewers imagination and evoke emotion.

Robert Demachy  'Behind the Scenes"  1906

   

     

Robert Demachy  ' Untitled, Sailboats'  1906

Robert Demachy 'Struggle'

The Pictorial photographer manipulated a straight forward image to make it more like a painting. They achieved this by altering images for example by hand scratching negatives and using brushes to soften and blur parts of the photograph during the printing process. They also used various different printing  techniques, for example,  Sepia toning which gives black & white prints a warmer tone. Bromoil printing process, Carbon Prints, Cyanotype and Gum bichromate printing methods.

John Kaufmann

This Photograph by Australian Pictorial           
 Photographer John Kaufmann is an                   example of a Carbon Print

 

Edward Steichen 

This image by is an example of a Gum Bichromate Print.  This was a multilayered printing process where several colours could be used.  The results often resembled watercolours or wash drawings.

I particularly like the effect achieved from the Bromoil Printing Process.  This is a variant on the oil print process that allows a print to be enlarged.  In this process a regular silver gelatin print is made, then bleached in a solution of potassium bichromate. This hardens the surface of the print and allows ink to stick to it.  Both the lighter and darker areas of a bromoil print may be manipulated, providing a broader tonal range than an oil print.

Bromoil Print by Josef Sechtl.  This process resulted in an image with a soft paint like quality.








Robert Demachy (1859-1936):  Robert Demachy was a prominent french pictorial photographer, best known for his intensely manipulated prints that display a painterly quality.  

Robert Demachy

Robert Demachy 'Speed" 1904

Above  one of Demachy's most famous shots depicting a solitary sports car throwing up a cloud of dust as it speeds by a solitary telegraph pole on a deserted road.

To achieve this look he used the Gum Bichromate printing process and developed a style that relied upon heavy manipulation both during the development of the negative and again when printing. 
He experimented with the process and wrote about his findings and about the aesthetics of the Gum Bichromate Print.  




I have taken inspiration from this style of photography and in particular from the work of Robert Demachy in my attempted to recreate my pictorial style image.  Similar to Demachy I have used a simple composition depicting a strong subject.  I have tried to emulate the style achieved with the Gum Bichromate printing process post production.  I have used blur to soften the image and added scratches to give the appearance of a drawing like image.  

Angie Finn 'Sails on Darling Harbour"