Abstraction in photography contains no reference to figurative reality but rather extracts real forms by selection that reduce the subject into a simplified representation. The removal of the extraneous surroundings and the concentration on the essential of form gives the resulting image its essential power. When Paul Strand photographed shadows in Abstraction, Twin Lakes, Connecticut (1916) or his Still Life with Pear and Bowls, Twin Lakes, Connecticut (1916) or Edward Weston took his photograph of a porcelain toilet in Mexico Excusado (1925) these were examinations of form rather than function.
Paul Strand
Abstraction, Twin Lakes, Connecticut
1916
Silver-Platinum print
32.8 x 24.4 cm (12 15/16 x 9 5/8 in)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Copyright © 2000–2005 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. - Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987 (1987.1100.10)
This online exhibition is the first of a series on abstraction that will include:
Abstractions with light
Abstractions of scale
Using different viewpoints
Distortions
Using intermediates
Multiple exposures
Solarization
Cameraless photographs
Capturing motion
Signage
Graffiti
Appropriated images
Over time this will create a visual framework or classification for better understanding abstraction. If this is a subject that interests you please join in when you can.
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