What are the roots of street photography?

I know: HCB, Frank, blah, blah, blah. No, I'm thinking about ideas

from the other Arts that may have only seeped in around the edges,

but which have never-the-less had a formative influence on the street

photography esthetic.<br>    The things that got me

thinking about this were, first, Andrew Somerset's <a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=007tcO"

target="new3">project</a> on documenting the business traveler's

lonely life. And, secondly, a single marvelous <a

href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?

photo_id=2262172&size=lg" target="new2">street shot</a> by Ed

Leveckis that seemed clearly to me to owe a great debt to the realist

painter, Edward Hopper (<a

href="http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hopper/nighthwk.jpg.html"

target="new1">Nighthawks</a>, etc. ). Hopper's focus on lonliness,

alienation and anonymity in the urban environment along with with

night-time settings lit by contrasty, harsh lights seems to me to be

central to what a lot of street photographers are after. <br> 

  Who are the other major painters whose work informs the art of

street photography? And, what about the other Arts - literature,

music,...? I'm not much of a musician, but I recall Jeff alluding to

improvisational jazz -- any specifics there? How about <i>noir</i>

films and pop detective authors from the '40s and '50s like Mickey

Spillane? Then, there's the book cover illustrations and the posters

that go along with all of that. <br>    Seems to me that

all of this would make a great premise for a gallery or museum

exhibit with a focus around street photography. Has it been done

before? Any curators listening out there?

Sorry this isn't clickable, haven't had my coffee yet...

 

http://www.twbookmark.com/books/48/0821227262/chapter_excerpt13605.html

The Bystander book referenced above is an interesting one, but it doesn't talk much about non-photographic roots. It's been a while since I read it, but I recall that it talked alot about the roll of various govt agencies during the depression.

 

It seems like a likely root influence would be paintings of the burgeoning middleclass at their leisure around the turn of the century. Hmm maybe an art historian out there could flesh this line of thought out with some examples. In my mind I have vague images of some impressionist paintings of folks on picnics etc. I know that one of the points of impressionist technique was that the speed of it allowed a painter to catch "candid" moments.

I can't give any particular reference here, but I think that it's generally recognized that the old Dutch Masters were the first to make fine art paintings (read: salable) of ordinary people doing ordinary things. Of course, Leonardo's sketchbooks are full of his observations of street people. Photographically, it wasn't until the last decades of the 19th century that film became sensitive enough that "snapshots" were possible. While there had been others working in the same genre, I think that Paul Strand's New York City photographs of c.1916 were the seminal influence for modern "street" photography.

Great question, Mike. Thought provoking.

 

If I read you right, rather than looking for the non-photographic "roots" of street photography, as the subject line suggests, you're really after the non-photographic influences that have shaped it over the years.

 

Re Jeff's jazz allusion, John Brownlow (pinkheadedbug.com) has called street photography "visual jazz."

 

The kind of gritty, harsh light stuff you mention doesn't appear until after the war, I think. Lots of influences could be connected with that -- film noir, existentialism ... I wouldn't want to try to connect the dots.

 

Tracing the influences would be very tough. We each have our own influences, which probably reflect in our photography, but a lot of what we do follows other photographers rather than the music, literature, art etc. we admire.

I agree w/Bill Mitchell's reference to the Dutch Masters. I would also throw in other artists like Breughel, Hogarth, & Murillo (http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pimage?1188+0+0).

As to modern street photography, since Mike mentions film noir, etc., I would be greatly surprised if there wasn't some degree of artistic cross-pollination between photography & cinematography starting in the 1920s (there certainly were tech connections, witness the origin of 35mm still photography, per Leica, in movie film).

Thanks for the link to the Bystander review. Doesn't address the question I asked, but obviously a must-have. I ordered it from Amazon at $24.

Thanks also for the thoughtful comments on the influence of painters from the past. I'm going to have to look at each of them again to see what I think. I thought Hopper was particularly relevant because of both his subjects and his style. I also agree with the cross-pollination comment. There are simultaneous currents in art and popular culture that feed off one another at times. Given the amount of time that photography has been around now, I'm sure it and street shooters have influenced painters as well.

Walker Evans often acknowledged being influenced by Gustav Flaubert's writings. (I have often wondered if that wasn't really a bit of snobbery on his part, however.)

Another bit of motivation in posing the questions I did was to try to get at a definition of street photography that might be useful to this forum. Although it is really quite an old traditional form by now, I think a lot of people look at street photography and just don't get it. There are even quite a few reasonably good street photographers who cannot easily articulate what their art is about. I thought that, by connecting the tradition to some of the more well accepted forms, the subject of street photography might become more accessible to discussion and understanding.

Re Walker Evans, James Mellow does a pretty good job of charting literary influences in his biography. (Of Evans, that is.)

Not the roots of street photography but some painters who's work parallels the essential concept. Culled from the gendre known as photorealism.

 

Robert Bechtle- Suburban scenes.

Tom Blackwell- Vehicles in urban settings.

Robert Cottingham- Neon signs, partial storefronts.

Don Eddy- Street scenes, vehicles and storefronts.

Ralph Goings- Pickup trucks, resturant scenes.

John Salt- Live in trailers and/or abandoned cars.

 

The descriptions are the themes most often repeated by each painter. A photograph always provides the starting point for every painting produced, which may to some extent also make this bunch street photographers by default.

Brassaï's "Paris By Night" series are among the earliest *populated* photos in the street and documentary genre of which I'm aware. It's still difficult to surpass, let alone match, his views of Parisian prostitutes and their clientele; nude dancers backstage and mingling with the formally dressed crowd, a grotesque juxtaposition; policemen, street sweepers, bums and ordinary people waiting for trains.

 

He was the photographer's equivalent to Toulouse-Latrec - tho' less celebratory and indulgent - regarding his subjects without judgement and maintaining a comfortable rapport.

 

I can only imagine the difficulties he encountered accomplishing this with the equipment of the day and almost impossibly slow film.

 

Don't look to his photos for technical excellence. It was a triumph to achieve any images at all under the conditions he chose. But his knack for capturing not only the moment but an entire era is uncanny.

<i><blockquote> Brassaï's "Paris By Night" series are among the earliest *populated*

photos in the street and documentary genre of which I'm aware. </blockquote> </i><p>

 

That book came out in 1933. <p>

 

You can find populated street photos from the previous century from photographers like

Alice Austen, Samuel Coulthurst, Thomas Annan, Paul Martin, Arnold Genthe and Horace

Engle. And especially Jacob Riis. <p>

 

The street photography of Paul Strand, Eugene Atget, Lewis Hine and Jacques-Henri

Latrigue were circa 1910 (although most of Atget's photos were devoid of people). <p>

 

Kertesz was doing street photography in the 'teens. <p>

 

Bill Brandt's night street photography were concurrent with Brassai's, although the photos

themselves are very different, somber.

Interesting question. Take a look at the work of GH Breitner, street photographer avant la lettre around 1900, and impressionist painter of sorts (<a href="http://www.digischool.nl/ckv1/beeldend/breitner/breitner.htm">here</a>, the photos are at the bottom of the page. As i understand, the aesthetic of a more or less random moment, and exploration of the anonimity and modernity of the city started with the impressionists, 1860's. As soon as shutters and film got fast enough, photographers went after the same. Likewise the impressionists could pursue their goals because paint properties (faster drying) and means of conservation (tubes) made it possible to paint outside, and fast. Technique and "art" chasing eachother constantly. <br><br>As to Edward Hopper, and Mickey Spillane, it's more likely they took inspiration from photos instead of the other way round.<br><br>rereading the above, it all sounds way too simple. What were street photogs after in the 1910's? Unlikely that that would be the same as in e.g. the 1930's.

I guess the reason I overlooked the obvious earlier photographers Strand and Atget is because I've never been impressed by their work. Heresy, I know. But Brassaï was the first in the genre who's work struck me as truly dynamic. Tastes differ - that's mine.

Shocking.

Atget, one of the first surrealists, maybe without even knowing it, Atget kicks ass !

<i><blockquote> I guess the reason I overlooked the obvious earlier photographers

Strand and Atget is because I've never been impressed by their work. </blockquote>

</i><p>

 

And the others? The point is that Brassai may have shot some excellent photos of a

specific group of people at a certain time, but those photos were not the only ones, or

the earliest. They focused on one class of people, neglecting the middle class entirely,

for example -- leaving it open to those like Bill Brandt.