Henry Peach Robinson (1830 - 1901)
At the same time that Social Documentary photography was developing in the United States, photography, as an art form, was taking precedence in the United Kingdom. Henry Peach Robinson was a strong advocate of this view. He produces a book in 1869 titled, 'Pictorial Effects in Photography: being hints and chiaroscuro for photographers, to which is added a chapter on combination printing'. The Getty Internet Archive (2014).
In this work Peach Robinson writes, 'Before placing figures in a landscape, the artist should first make up his mind whether the composition requires the introduction of any object to add to its completeness.'
It is clear that Peach Robinson approaches photography as purely an art form. He is only interested in the human figure in as much as it is an object to be placed into a composition. This is clear from some of his images of the British countryside. The figures in the image below are obviously posed and the landscape is represented as a pastoral idyll - as in the tradition of landscape painting. There are no signs of rural degradation or poverty here.
In regards to 'photographic truth' Peach Robinson goes on to say in his book, 'It, of course, may happen that, in some scenes in nature, figures may be found scattered over the ground in the way set forth in many photographs, and a picture of them may be quite true, and would, therefore, satisfy the desires of the matter-of-fact truth-at-any-price school, who scoff at the idea of art knowledge being of any use to photographers; but it is the purpose of the artist to represent agreeable truth, or, at least, truths that do not irritate the eye, as false quantities jar upon the ear in verse.
Peach Robinson is taking a sideswipe at developing Social Documentary arguments and attempting to establish a counter argument that there is such a thing as manipulated, agreeable truth. I partly agree with Peach Robinson's assertion. The work of both Joseph Hine and Jacob Riis can easily be described as manipulated truth. It is true that in the case of Hine's factory work, the images needed to be staged in order to show the 'hidden truth' of child labour. Some of the work of Riis is also highly posed and even sentimental. I think though it is Peach Robinson's use of the word 'agreeable' that puts his images firmly on the side of art based rather than social documentary photography. Though, I don't think he would disagree with that.
Henry Peach Robinson comes from a tradition of painting and firmly believes in the artistic merit of photography. He is a member of the Linked Ring who are photographers heavily influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite painters. He was at heart a Pictorialist and used combination printing (creating prints from many different negatives) to achieve his artistic intent.
Once again, he is not so different from social documentary photographers that are selecting images and leaving out others in order to tell a political narrative. It is the intent that is different. One is engaged in social reform, the other is purely an art based practise.
At the same time that Social Documentary photography was developing in the United States, photography, as an art form, was taking precedence in the United Kingdom. Henry Peach Robinson was a strong advocate of this view. He produces a book in 1869 titled, 'Pictorial Effects in Photography: being hints and chiaroscuro for photographers, to which is added a chapter on combination printing'. The Getty Internet Archive (2014).
In this work Peach Robinson writes, 'Before placing figures in a landscape, the artist should first make up his mind whether the composition requires the introduction of any object to add to its completeness.'
It is clear that Peach Robinson approaches photography as purely an art form. He is only interested in the human figure in as much as it is an object to be placed into a composition. This is clear from some of his images of the British countryside. The figures in the image below are obviously posed and the landscape is represented as a pastoral idyll - as in the tradition of landscape painting. There are no signs of rural degradation or poverty here.
In regards to 'photographic truth' Peach Robinson goes on to say in his book, 'It, of course, may happen that, in some scenes in nature, figures may be found scattered over the ground in the way set forth in many photographs, and a picture of them may be quite true, and would, therefore, satisfy the desires of the matter-of-fact truth-at-any-price school, who scoff at the idea of art knowledge being of any use to photographers; but it is the purpose of the artist to represent agreeable truth, or, at least, truths that do not irritate the eye, as false quantities jar upon the ear in verse.
Peach Robinson is taking a sideswipe at developing Social Documentary arguments and attempting to establish a counter argument that there is such a thing as manipulated, agreeable truth. I partly agree with Peach Robinson's assertion. The work of both Joseph Hine and Jacob Riis can easily be described as manipulated truth. It is true that in the case of Hine's factory work, the images needed to be staged in order to show the 'hidden truth' of child labour. Some of the work of Riis is also highly posed and even sentimental. I think though it is Peach Robinson's use of the word 'agreeable' that puts his images firmly on the side of art based rather than social documentary photography. Though, I don't think he would disagree with that.
Henry Peach Robinson comes from a tradition of painting and firmly believes in the artistic merit of photography. He is a member of the Linked Ring who are photographers heavily influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite painters. He was at heart a Pictorialist and used combination printing (creating prints from many different negatives) to achieve his artistic intent.
Once again, he is not so different from social documentary photographers that are selecting images and leaving out others in order to tell a political narrative. It is the intent that is different. One is engaged in social reform, the other is purely an art based practise.
The Getty Internet Archive (2014) [online] Available from: https://archive.org/details/pictorialeffecti00robi [Accessed 26th June 2014]
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