Task 1Experimental Photographers Case Study

Katie Torpey

David Hockney

David HockneyDavid Hockey is a Painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and also photographer. He was born in Bradford in 1937, and he is now based in Bridlington in England. The 76 year old photographer is considered to be the most influential British artists of the 20th century because of his unique style of work. David Hockney’s work is different to any other painter and photographer. In the 1980’s Hockney created a new kind of fine art. He was in the process of creating a painting of the living room but then decided that he wanted to take a range of Polaroid images of the room after doing this Hockney then arranged the polaroid images in a different arrangement and glued them together to create a photo montage. He decided to create more pieces of art work using this process and eventually gave up on painting just so that he could spend all his attention and time on doing photography. He called this method ‘The Joiners’. Hockney later started to create colour prints which could be organised in a photo collage way. David Hockney took images of landscapes as well as portraits to create these interesting montages of images. While Hockney experimented with different angles, lighting, sizes and arrangements a new process of artwork was created.

I believe that the method in which David Hockney created his art was a very traditional way. This is because no digital software or process was used during the making of his art. Although that his prints were created from a polaroid camera there was no editing programme which Hockney used to create his montages, this shows his originality and his traditional method of creating fire art. I also think that Hockneys way of photography is contemporary even though that his art is quite traditional I think that the images created are quite modern because of the subjects and the style in which the photographs have been taken. Although making collages by hand is a traditional method the images are quite contemporary. David Hockneys art is fine art as it is not used for commercial purposes. I think that David Hockneys way of creating the joiners is very unique and creative and allows a story to be told in every image. I think that Hockneys work would be seen in a lot of exhibitions and also books. As well as being available to view online.

Hannah Hoch

Hannah HochHannah Hoch was a German artist who was born on the 1st November in 1889. She died on the 31st may 1978 at age 88. Hoch studied at the college of arts and crafts in Berlin where she studied glass design, calligraphy, graphic design, embroidery, wallpaper design and fabric. She was mostly famous for her way of creating photo montages which was influenced by Raoul Haussmann. Hoch was one of the originators of photo montage. Hoch was also known because of her imaginative creations of graphic arts. Hannah Hoch introduced the phrase ‘photo montages’ which represents that images are been ‘engineered rather than created’. Hannah Hoch used a range of different media to create her images including illustration, photography, graphic design and painting. Hannah Hoch’s earliest artwork included “the new women”. Hannah Hoch created artwork based on the German media admiration of females at that time. She focuses on how women were presented within the media as to how they are actually like in real life. Later in her work her approach to art specifically focused on women's style. In her pieces of art Hoch's decided to focus on the beauty and fashion of females. Through her photo montages Hoch created her artwork by combining different methods of art into one piece, by overlapping and making collages of images and illustration this built up a creative product which had its very own unique art style.

I believe that Hannah Hoch's artwork was very historical and traditional. When making her artwork Hoch used many different techniques including paper collage and film photography. Both of these methods are very traditional and historical. I think that Hoch's photography is quite historical as the quality and subjects in the photographs related back to an old historic time. I think that Hannah Hoch's artwork would be seen in galleries and exhibitions and maybe art books as her work is quite old and traditional I think that people who would be interested in this artwork would be the kind of audience to visit an exhibition rather than view her work online.

Man Ray

Man RayMan Ray is a American modern artist who was born august 27th 1890. He died 18th November 1978 at age 86. Man Ray was born Emmanuel Radnitzky, however used the nickname Man Ray for short. Man Ray grew up with the creative lifestyle from his parents. Man Ray was offered a scholarship to study architecture however he decided to pursuit a career being an artist. Man Ray has created work which was different from any other artists work before. He is mostly known for his work with photograms however he called them rayographs in reference to himself. This is art which was made without a camera. A very traditional method which was made by placing objects in a random arrangement on a sheet of photo sensitized paper and the exposing it to light. The art which he created from this was very unique and abstract and amazed other artists of that time. Objects which was used in when creating the photograms included thumbtacks, wire, string, buttons and other circular objects. These silhouette shapes created a unique kind of art . Man Rays art was so popular and unique that He was been named as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.Many Ray used specialist techniques which created a new interest from current artists from that time. His versatile and inventive approach to art was experimented using different subjects and objects within his art.

I think that Man Ray was a very traditional artist. As he used traditional techniques including light and photo sensitive paper which shows that he didn’t use any camera or editing programmes. Although that Man Ray is a very traditional artist I think that his art was very modern and contemporary when he created it as it is very abstract and unlike any other modern art. I also think that the work which Man Ray created focused on surrealism which interested and modern art which made his work contemporary.