Exam Response: Personal Opinions
Artist Research: Henri Cartier-Bresson
Subject of Research: Social Change
Henri Cartier-Bresson:
Born: 22-08-1908
Died: 03-08-2004
Origin: Chanteloup-en-Brie, France
Photography Movement: Documentary, The Decisive Moment, social change, photo-journalism, street photography
Camera: Kodak Brownie Box, Leica
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a 20th century photographer focusing on the ever present social change within society through the medium of documentary photography.
Cartier-Bresson originally began as a painter who was only involved in photography as a hobby until he became seriously involved in the idea of it when he reached an epiphany, noting that "a photograph could fix eternity in an instant".
Cartier-Bresson began photographing his native home after a period of photographing elsewhere until he moved on from his old camera, a Kodak Brownie Box, to a more modern, smaller, Leica which he adapted to be more inconspicuous for documenting natural behaviour within society that would not be influenced by subjects knowing they were being photographed. Cartier-Bresson wanted to depict the social movement and transformation within society in an anonymous manner.
Cartier-Bresson photographed a spectrum of people within society to document the social classes and positions of people. For instance, one of Cartier-Bresson's most significant works within the field of photo-journalism would be his photography of the British monarchs taken in 1937 in London.
In 1947 Cartier-Bresson and various other photographers created 'Magnum Photos'. The company was a photography agency in which work was divided between the members. The significance of 'Magnum' was to experience and document social change throughout time and society.
In 1952, a technique employed by Cartier-Bresson was published in his book entitled 'The Decisive Moment'. The technique states that everything, every point in time, has a decisive moment; a point which demonstrates the whole narrative in a single frame of photography. Cartier-Bresson himself stated that "To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organisation of forms which give that event its proper expression". The decisive moment is a technique that in itself is almost a metaphor for time and thus, when used correctly by photographers, depicts social change eloquently and precisely.
Therefore, my interpretation of Henri Cartier-Bresson's work is that his personal opinion in photography was based around the documentation of society and all its members through various situations. Cartier-Bresson documented the ever-changing transient idea of society.
Exam Preparation:
Exam Response: Image and Text & Personal Opinions
Artist Research: Barbara Kruger
Subject of Research: Conceptual art, photomontage, feminism
Barbara Kruger:
Born: 26-01-1945
Died: N/A
Origin: Newark, New Jersey, America
Photography Movement: Neo-conceptual art, photomontage
Barbara Kruger is a 20th century american conceptual artist whose work is in the medium of black and white photography with overlaid red text that addresses personal opinions and themes such as sexuality, femininity, power and identity.
Kruger's early artistic life was revolved around painting, sewing and other fabric work such as crocheting. Kruger then developed into the medium of magazines post her position as a designer for the magazine 'Mademoiselle'.
Kruger began her journey as a major social photographer/ artist and has often been grouped with other feminist artists such as Jenny Holzer and has been grouped with a variety of post modern feminists.
Kruger's work is is focused around black and white photographs with bold red text, created on a computer and transferred to billboard size images, which challenges the readers ideals around subjects such as media representations of social groups and societal expectation of people.
Therefore, I think that Kruger's work is vital to a variety of questions mentioned in the exam; for instance, Kruger relates to, firstly, image and text, then personal opinion due to feminist readings and then to image manipulation as the images are digitally created/ merged.
Exam Preparation:
Exam Response: Image and Text (I will be using them for Personal Opinions)
Artist Research: Jenny Holzer
Subject of Research: Conceptual art, feminism
Jenny Holzer:
Born: 29-07-1950
Died: N/A
Origin: Gallipolis, Ohio, America
Photography Movement: Neo-conceptual art
Jenny Holzer is a 20th century artist who studies society through conceptual art that often refers to themes of feminism.
Holzer isn't necessarily a photographer but instead an artist who works in the medium of large scale billboard adverts, screen projections and light displays.
Holzer is part of a collaborative art group consisting of other feminist artists who emerged mainly in the 1980s; some of these include: Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman, Sarah Charlesworth and Barbara Kruger.
Holzer has addressed many beliefs throughout her work as an artist of which some include: the necessities of everyday life, the emptiness of life, human relationships etc.
Some of Holzer's most notable ideologies are her works addressing gender, power, sexuality, violence, oppression and death.
Therefore, I think that Holzer is a conceptual artist who carefully addresses societal issues in everyday circumstances to allow audiences to think about how the issues presented in her work are something now seen as accepted everyday ideals.
Exam Response: Image and Text (I will be using them for Personal Opinions)
Artist Research: Jenny Holzer
Subject of Research: Conceptual art, feminism
Jenny Holzer:
Born: 29-07-1950
Died: N/A
Origin: Gallipolis, Ohio, America
Photography Movement: Neo-conceptual art
Jenny Holzer is a 20th century artist who studies society through conceptual art that often refers to themes of feminism.
Holzer isn't necessarily a photographer but instead an artist who works in the medium of large scale billboard adverts, screen projections and light displays.
Holzer is part of a collaborative art group consisting of other feminist artists who emerged mainly in the 1980s; some of these include: Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman, Sarah Charlesworth and Barbara Kruger.
Holzer has addressed many beliefs throughout her work as an artist of which some include: the necessities of everyday life, the emptiness of life, human relationships etc.
Some of Holzer's most notable ideologies are her works addressing gender, power, sexuality, violence, oppression and death.
Therefore, I think that Holzer is a conceptual artist who carefully addresses societal issues in everyday circumstances to allow audiences to think about how the issues presented in her work are something now seen as accepted everyday ideals.
Exam Response: Image Manipulation (I will be using them for personal opinions)
Artist Research: Dan Mountford
Subject of Research: Double exposure
Dan Mountford:
Born: Unknown
Died: N/A
Origin: British
Photography Movement: Double exposure, portraiture
Mountford is a 21st century photographer and artist studying graphic design at the University of Brighton.
Mountford works in various mediums including: photography, illustrations and motion design. All photographs under the technique of double exposure are created using just a camera for the main effect. Post-production editing software is only used to adjust tone, remove blemishes or add shapes.
Mountford's most notable series is entitled "The World Inside of Us". This series employs the double exposure technique and merges them with the medium of portrait photography. Mountford himself described the series as "a visual journey through our minds by calm and tidy means which the reality of everyday life does not show".
Therefore, I think that Mountford's work expresses personal opinions about how we are individuals and yet a member of a society or subculture which determines so much of who we are. Our surroundings influence so greatly that they are in fact a whole "World Inside of Us".
Exam Preparation:
Exam Response: Personal Opinions
Artist Research: Danny Quirk
Subject of Research: Societal beauty conventions, consequences of war.
Danny Quirk:
Born: Unknown
Died: N/A
Photography Movement: N/A
Quirk is a 21st century artist who begun his series' based upon ideologies and personal opinions in his paintwork both in watercolour and on human skin under the theme of portraiture.
Quirk's work addressing ideas about military life, and death, was constructed after multiple interviews with military personnel who had been deployed overseas. Quirk himself has said that the particular series about war with specific pieces such as "Faces of War", "(De) Facing PTSD" and "Making of a Marine" are all an "attempt to illustrate what they went through, the war in their eyes".
Exam Response: Personal Opinions
Artist Research: Danny Quirk
Subject of Research: Societal beauty conventions, consequences of war.
Danny Quirk:
Born: Unknown
Died: N/A
Photography Movement: N/A
Quirk is a 21st century artist who begun his series' based upon ideologies and personal opinions in his paintwork both in watercolour and on human skin under the theme of portraiture.
Quirk's work addressing ideas about military life, and death, was constructed after multiple interviews with military personnel who had been deployed overseas. Quirk himself has said that the particular series about war with specific pieces such as "Faces of War", "(De) Facing PTSD" and "Making of a Marine" are all an "attempt to illustrate what they went through, the war in their eyes".
Additionally, Quirk also addresses another branch of personal opinions based around societies beauty standards. Two series' called "Anatomical Self Dissections" and "Anatomical Body Paintings" deal with the ideas about beauty being skin deep. These particular works are so striking in depicting personal opinions through the use of classical posing, chiaroscuro lighting joint with a contemporary conceptual twist. Quirk said, in relation to these series', he
wanted to "illustrate what's underneath the skin".
Therefore, I think that Quirk is extremely clever in depicting various criticisms about society and its dealings with particular subcultures through his artwork. Some have suggested that Quirk's work is simply dark medical anatomy, for example, but I believe that the definition of art is that it can be interpreted in various ways due to the social factors influencing the viewer; therefore, Quirk is an artist under the branch of sharing personal opinions and social ideals through the medium of paint. 
Exam Preparation:
Exam Response: Personal Opinions
Artist Research: Don McCullin
Subject of Research: War, photojournalism, documentary photography
Don McCullin:
Born:09-10-1935
Died: N/A
Origin: Finsbury Park, London, England.
Photography Movement: Photojournalism, documentary photography.
Camera: Rolleicord (originally), Nikon (stopped a bullet from killing him)
In his early years, McCullin displayed a talent for drawing and won a scholarship to an art school. After leaving school McCullin was recruited for national service in the Royal Air Force (RAF). McCullin's dyslexia was a factor that meant he failed the written test to become a photographer in the RAF so spent most of his time in the darkroom.
In 1959 McCullin's photograph of a London gang was published in a large newspaper. This lead to later work under other newspapers between 1966 and 1984; he worked specifically in war zones, catastrophes and epidemic ravaged countries.
Extremely well noted work of McCullin's is his photojournalism documenting the Vietnam War and the Northern Ireland Conflict. A book of his work well commended is "Shaped by War (2010)".
In 1982, McCullin was refused press pass to the Falklands war by the British Government.
Therefore, I think that McCullin is a photographer documenting personal opinions through photojournalistic portraiture depicting society ravaged by the sorrows of the world we live in; these sorrows include man-made disaster, war and epidemics. McCullin himself mentioned his personal opinions about feeling of guilt when he decided to move on to landscape photography. McCullin said " there is guilt in every direction: guilt because I don't practise religion, guilt because I was able to walk away, while this man was dying of starvation or being murdered by another man with a gun. And I am tired of guilt, tired of saying to myself: "I didn't kill that man on that photograph, I didn't starve that child", "That's why I want to photograph landscapes and flowers. I am sentencing myself to peace".
