Expressionism Photography

“The term expressionism is more common in the literature of art and aesthetics then in photography. The term pictorialism , however, is common in photography and the pictorialist movement in photography fits within expressionistic criteria.” (Criticizing Photographs: An introduction to understanding Images; Fifth Edition; Pg. 136) In the above photograph by David Julian, titled “The Haunted Tree” many of the qualities of expressionism or pictorialism are present within this photograph. The lighting and soft focus create an image that looks more like a painting than a photograph. This photography with its title also could be considered an allegory, which is also in pictorialism. In photography today a photographer may not use traditional brushes or textured papers to create a pictorialist feel to their imagery they may one the other hand use programs such as Photoshop to create that same look and feel. “For expressionists, intensity of expression is more crucial than accuracy of representation.” (Criticizing Photographs: An introduction to understanding Images; Fifth Edition; Pg. 136) This is another example from our book that I feel applies to this image and why I feel that is fits into the expressionism category. The tree in the image only has the look and feeling of being a haunted old tree due to the way the photograph was edited. The desaturation of the colors and the darkened edges add to the mood of the photograph, while the birds flying overhead give the tree and image it’s foreboding feeling. “Interest in pictorialist aesthetics and techniques (“manipulated photographs”) declined by the mid 1920’s, only to reemerge in the 1970’s and the tradition is vigorously continued today.” (Criticizing Photographs: An introduction to understanding Images; Fifth Edition; Pg. 136) This photograph is also one of many by the photographer David Julian in a series he calls “Dreams and Visual Poems”, in which he states “ In dreams, trees are hands, water is silk, birds are spirits and dramatic skies veil an unrelenting sun.” When I view this photograph having read that statement it makes me even more convinced that this photograph fits into the category of expressionism. The allegory also comes to life more with this description of the photographers description of a tree being a hand of hands reaching towards the birds in the sky or spirits circling overhead, underneath a dramatic sky and unrelenting sun.