Post Fine Art Nude - A self-serving post

Sail on silver girl, sail on by

Sail on Silver Girl,
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way - Paul Simon

When I think of the original photography masters of the fine art nude I can come up with a list of the iconic legends.  I know I am missing a few big ones, but here are the ones I thought of first.

• Edward Weston
• Brett Weston
• Ruth Bernhard
• Imogen Cunningham

Likewise, it is not hard to list a few contemporary fine art nude photographers.

• Stephen Haynes
• Kim Weston
• David Swanson
• Carrie Leigh

Most of the names listed in the first group were key artists in the modern art movement of the first two thirds of the 20th century.  The modern art photographers' work emphasized the following key elements:

• The technically perfect print
• Aesthetic beauty
• Accenting texture, curve, line, shadow and contrast.
• Or as Wikipedia says, ...Modern artists experimented with new ways of seeing and with fresh ideas about the nature of materials and functions of art. A tendency toward abstraction is characteristic of much modern art."

There are many other key elements and I am undervaluing their work by not mentioning them.  Their work, combined with non-nude photographers like Ansel Adams, defined the look of the artistic black and white print.  This value and aesthetic still grips art today and can be seen in the works of the second group I mentioned, even if their outputs are in color.

Starting in the late 1950's, some say with  Robert Frank either ending it, bridging the divide, or starting the postmodern movement, the modern art movement began to be pushed aside.   According to Wikipedia:

Postmodern art is a term used to describe an art movement which was thought to be in contradiction to some aspect of modernism, or to have emerged or developed in its aftermath. In general, movements such as Intermedia, Installation art, Conceptual Art and Multimedia, particularly involving video are described as postmodern. The traits associated with the use of the term postmodern in art include bricolage, use of words prominently as the central artistic element, collage, simplification, appropriation, depiction of consumer or popular culture and Performance art.

A part of this movement I am finding important in my continued artistic growth is the growing away from the absolute aesthetic perfection of the fine print and moving toward works that have deeper conceptual meaning and purpose for me.  Maybe I am starting to grow up into my art, and not another artist's.

Over the years I went through my photography phases where I tried to take photos like those I admired.  Some of these phases were the National Geographic phase, the Ansel Adams phase (I have a photo of a sunrise on the Grand Tetons over looking the Snake River that I took in the same spot as Adams did hanging in my bathroom),  and the Edward Weston phase.  I took a few private classes with Kim Weston and learned so much about the aesthetic of the fine art print and the hard work to create it.  I photographed my first nude model during the first session.  One of those prints is hanging in my home office right behind me.  I truly appreciate what I learned during those phases.  It is now time to move on.

When I photographed Leila, I unknowingly wanted to go beyond the classic fine art nude.  I created a few fine art nudes with her, but also some images that had a deeper meaning to me.  Those early attempts were crude, at best.

I really felt the change when I worked with Candace.  I shot many images that fit the classic fine art nude and were beautiful, but I also experimented with projected imagery.  I found some of them were very good and believe that was the moment I wanted to get away from creating images of pure aesthetic beauty celebrating the lines, curves, shapes and shadows of the feminine form.  I wanted more from my photos.

Since then I've been trying to avoid creating my versions of the modern movements classics.  I love and respect those styles, but they are not my cup of tea to create anymore (although one or two on the side are fun).  While I still find beauty in them, I feel my art needs more to it than that style offers me.

Much of the work I created in New York is getting closer to what I want.  Both Moon and Valya blessed me with their artistic beauty to help me with it.  The city itself blessed me with sharing its little and large treasures.  I am excited about this push away from my prior "pretty pictures" to making things that have a bit more narrative and personal purpose in them.  Not all my stuff is good, but is better for me.