1. A thought about social photography
Rejlander et les colporteurs, vers 1862-1868, O.GRjlander, épreuve albuminée d’après un négatif verre aucollodion humide.
As we saw it during this week, O.G. Rejlander isn’t
only a portraitist of great talent, he is also a complete artist,
engaged in new reflexions around the medium of photography as an
artistic expression.
Representation of others in photography is
problematic because it theoretically represents an accurate picture
of the person portrayed and the situation she is in. As we saw it,
this accurate representation has a consequence for the audience. If
victorian society accepts without arguing nude representations in
paintings, when O.G. Rejlander proposes The two ways of life,
he offends.
O.G. Rejlander is a
master of the art of staging. He knows how to play with the poses of
his subjects. He uses the the technique of compiling different
diapositives in order to construct complex art work leaving the
observer perplex.
By the choice of his staging, he uses different
photographical techniques. O.G. Rejlander proves that photography can
be used to recreate an imaginary universe. This will question the use
of photography that was supposed to be used only to represent
reality.
This possibility to counterfeit reality is an
important element that we should keep in mind when we observe a
photography. This is particularly important for social photography.
For his work on poor workers and children living in
the streets, O.G. Rejlander choses sentimentalism. He creates
photographies that send us to the imaginary world of Charles Dickens.
Admittedly he manipulates images in an artistic goal. For us, staging
and photographing children as he does can seem suspicious. This
feeling was already present at that time but it was more about moral
questions. This can be explained by the suspicious relationship
photographers where known to have with their naked feminine models.
Even if O.G. Rejlander affirms to only use theatre actors for the
nude photographies, his opponents affirm that they are prostitutes.
O.G. Rejlander portraits children leaving in the
streets. But the children appear clean and sometimes posing in
gainful occupations. We mustn’t forget that the work of children
wasn’t forbidden in the victorian time. At the contrary, this was
very common for the poor working classes and for farmers. The fight
for children’s rights was just at the beginning. In fact, allow
children to work was considered as « moral » because it
kept them away from vagrancy, begging, stealing and even
prostitution.
To represent children isn’t an anodyne choice for the
victorian photographer. This subject allows to represent the social
reality of that time. However the explanation of why Rejlander choses
this subject goes beyond the simple necessity to represent social
reality. We can think that the photogenic aspect of children allows
critical staging of their social role and in extension of the whole
society’s. Children are like adults in miniature, and in the
collective psyche they are yet not corrupted by modern society. The
contrast between the situation and the alleged ingenuity can give as
a result an interesting gap, and even create a certain unease for the
spectator.
It won’t rain today,1865, O.G Rjlandder, épreuve
albuminée d’après un négatif verre au collodion humide,
20.8×16.5, the J.Paul Getty Museum.
2. An actor of documentary
photography
I) héliographie de O.G. Rejander 2) Illustration
du travail du Dr Duchenne de Boulogne, The Expression of the emotions
of man and animals, Charles Darwin, 1872, ed John Murray.
When he works with Charles Darwin, Rejlander seems to
use photography as a tool to reproduce reality. It seemed to be a
return to the origins of photography for the artist. Nevertheless,
even with this work, he shows that this medium can largely be
manipulated.
Rejlander is motivated by an artistic recognition and
not a scientific one. Yet he participates in Darwin thinking on the
representation of human emotions. His approach of photography is
subjective and his capacity to manipulate the image through staging,
are pretences at the service of real emotions.
Double Self-Portrait, 1872, O.G Rjlandder, épreuve
albuminée d’après un négatif verre au collodion humide.
3. One of the advocates of art
photography
Allegory, entre 1850 et 1859, épreuve albuminée
d’après un négatif verre au collodion humide,46.7×12.4 cm.
If O.G. Rejlander is still considered as the
« father » of artistic photography, it is thanks to his
capacity of making this medium as malleable as a painting brush.
This quality, is shared with some of his
contemporaries as Charles Nègre, whom we studied last week; or Le
Gray, whom we have mentioned numerous times. However, the complexity
of O.G. Rejlander compositions make of him a special artist. He
pushes the subjectivity of this medium to its limits. Nevertheless we
found an artistic equivalent in Henry Robinson. He will be criticised
by his contemporaries for the same reasons as O.G. Rejlander. His
best-known work, Fading Away,
will be considered as « too morbid and too painfully
personal to be a photographic representation ».
Fading Away (1858), Henry Robinson, épreuve
albuminée au sel d’argent d’après un négatif verre, 23.8 x 37.2
cm,The Royal Photographic Society at the National Media Museum,
Bradford, United Kingdom.
Complementary sources :
Photo Humanis International - in English 