Luminous-Lint - for collectors and connoisseurs of fine photography
HOME  BACKFREE NEWSLETTER
   Make a pledge on Kickstarter to support the next phase of Luminous-Lint
Many thanks, Alan
   
 

Getting around

 

HomeWhat's NewContentsVisual IndexesOnline ExhibitionsPhotographersGalleries and DealersThemes
AbstractEroticaFashionLandscapeNaturePhotojournalismPhotomontagePictorialismPortraitScientificStill lifeStreetWar
TimelinesTechniquesLibraryImages and WordsSupport 
 

Social media

Share |

 

HomeContentsThemes > Conceptual

Contents

929.01   Conceptual photography
This theme includes example sections and will be revised and added to as we proceed. Suggestions for additions, improvements and the correction of factual errors are always appreciated.
 
  
929.01    Conceptual photography 
  
Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail  
  
Conceptual photography as a part of conceptual art is a photography genre in which the artist makes a photograph of a concept or idea. Usually the conception of the idea precedes the realization of the photograph. The practitioners of this approach are sometimes called photoconceptualists.
 
Widely used in advertising and commercial photography the most successful images are immediately understandable. The use of an impoverished African child in a television advertisement is shown to represent a wider issue of underdevelopment and it ignores the complexity both at the individual level and the socio-political. It can be argued that images are, on occasion, cynically used to promote an issue at the most basic of human level - empathy. Image stock libraries have whole sections dedicated to getting across concepts to an audience.  
  
Thumbnail Thumbnail  
  

 
Within conceptual art and conceptual photography the same motivations apply and it is about the use of images to transmit an idea to the viewer. In some cases the artists is documenting a performance and the Untitled Film Stills" series by Cindy Sherman places herself within scenes reminiscent of 1940s and 50s film noir. The photographs question the nature of cinema, film stills, scenic reality and what a portrait is expected to be all in a single frame.  
  
Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail  
  

 
With Sherrie Levine her appropriations of the work of Walker Evans was provocative and critics rose up to defend her work and attack it. Some of her photographs were direct copies of photographs taken from books where she gave them new titles - such as "After Walker Evans". One commonly held way to view these is with a knee-jerk reaction that it has no originality but this may be confusing the physical object which is a copy with the underlying idea (the "concept") which questions the nature of originality and why works should be included in a canon of famous photographers who produce iconic images. It is the questions raised that are important and the intentions behind them rather than the artworks themselves.  
  
Thumbnail  
  
 
  

alan@luminous-lint.com

 
  

HomeContents > Further research

 
  
Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail Thumbnail  
  
General reading 
  
Costello, Diarmuid & Iverson, Margaret (eds.), 2010, Photography After Conceptual Art, (Wiley-Blackwell) isbn-10: 1444333607 isbn-13: 978-1444333602 [Δ
  
Osbourne, Peter, 2002, Conceptual Art, (Phaïdon) isbn-10: 0714839302 isbn-13: 978-0714839301 [Δ
  
Witkovsky, Matthew S. et al., 2012, Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph, 1964-1977, (Art Institute of Chicago) isbn-10: 0300159714 isbn-13: 978-0300159714 [Δ
  
 
  
Readings on, or by, individual photographers 
  
John Baldessari 
  
Baldessari, J., 2005, John Baldessari: Life’s Balance; Works 84-04, (Köln: Verlag Der Buchhandlung Walther Konig) [Δ
  
John Hilliard 
  
Hilliard, John, 2003, John Hilliard: the less said the better, (Verlag Das Wunderhorn) isbn-10: 388423207X isbn-13: 978-3884232071 [Editors: Karl Manfred Fischer & Uta Nusser, John Hilliard] [Δ
  
Sol LeWitt 
  
LeWitt, Sol, 1977, Sol LeWitt: PhotoGrids, (David Paul Press/ Rizzoli, New York) [Δ
  
Edward Ruscha 
  
Ruscha, Ed, 1962, Twentysix Gasoline Stations [Δ
  
Ruscha, Ed, 1968, Nine Swimming Pools and a Broken Glass, (Los Angeles, California: Self-published, Printed by Blair Litho) [Δ
  
Ruscha, Ed, 1969, Crackers [Δ
  
Ruscha, Ed, 1970, Babycakes with Weights, ([California]: Edward Ruscha) [Δ
  
Ruscha, Ed, 1970, Some Los Angeles Apartments [2nd edition] [Δ
  
Ruscha, Ed, 1970, Various Small Fires [Δ
  
Ruscha, Ed, 1971, Records, (Hollywood: Heavy Industry Publications, Printed by G.R. Huttner Lithography) [Δ
  
Ruscha, Ed, 1971, Royal Road Test [Δ
  
Ruscha, Ed, 1990, Edward Ruscha: Los Angeles Apartments [Δ
  
Ruscha, Ed & Bengston, Billy Al, 1968, Business Cards, (Hollywood: Heavy Industry Publications; Printed by Vaughan Printing Co.) [Δ
  
Ruscha, Edward, 1965, Some Los Angeles Apartments, (Los Angeles: Anderson, Ritchie & Simon) [Δ
  
Ruscha, Edward, 1966, Every Building on the Sunset Strip, (Los Angeles: Edward Ruscha) [Δ
  
Ruscha, Edward, 1999, Heaven - Edward Ruscha: Editions 1959-1999 - Catalogue Raisonne [Δ
  
Ruscha, Edward, 2004, Leave Any Information at the Signal: Writings, Interviews, Bits, Pages, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press) [Edited by Alexander Schwartz] [Δ
  
Wolf, Sylvia, 2004, Ed Ruscha and Photography, (Göttingen, Germany: Steidl Verlag) [Δ
  
 
  
If you feel this list is missing a significant book or article please let me know - Alan - alan@luminous-lint.com 
  

HomeContentsPhotographers > Photographers worth investigating

 
Vito Acconci  (1940-) • John Baldessari  (1931-) • Mel Bochner  (1940-) • Stan Douglas  (1960-) • Dan Graham • John Hilliard  (1945-) • Sherrie Levine  (1947-) • Sol LeWitt  (1928-2007) • Bruce Nauman  (1941-) • Martha Rosler  (1943-) • Edward Ruscha  (1937-)
HomeConceptual photography 
 
A wider gazeRelated topics 
  
Art 
 
  

HomeVisual indexes > Conceptual

Please submit suggestions for Visual Indexes to enhance this theme.
Alan - alan@luminous-lint.com

 
  
   Photographer 
  
ThumbnailCindy Sherman: Untitled film stills 
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer 
ThumbnailEd Ruscha: Every Building on Sunset Strip 
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer 
ThumbnailEd Ruscha: Royal Road Test 
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer 
ThumbnailEd Ruscha: Thirtyfour Parking Lots in Los Angeles 
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer 
ThumbnailMartha Rosler: Bringing the War Home : House Beautiful 
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer 
 
 
  
   Still thinking about these... 
  
ThumbnailConceptual photography 
 
 
  
Refreshed: 18 May 2013, 00:09
 
  
 
  
HOME  BACKFREE NEWSLETTER
   Make a pledge on Kickstarter to support the next phase of Luminous-Lint
Many thanks, Alan