the cultural context surrounding the artist at the time.More broadly, structuralism holds that any art work is entirely understood as the combination of: Therefore, a literary text is a list of words and punctuation, whose meaning is influenced by both the author and the canon of texts that precede it. The “commonly agreed manner” may evolve over time and relies on influential past usage of the language. So, a language is a structure of words relating to other words in a commonly agreed manner. Apologies to any botanists for the simplification. For example, we know what “tree” means because we know what “plant” means and “tree” is a type of “plant” and larger than a “shrub”. However, in the 1940s, Ferdinand de Saussure led an intellectual movement that held that words only had meaning in relation to other words.

Philosophical Context (Literary Theory): Structuralism and Post-Structuralism Literary Criticism Pre-Structuralism – Philosophy of Language

Footnote: Why was the book called “Camera Lucida”? and other musings.

Why any of the above matters to a photographer.

Concurrent Art Movements: Modernism & Post-Modernism.

Philosophical Context (Literary Theory): Structuralism and Post-Structuralism.

So everything I currently know, or can opine, about the philosophy of art is written in the following sections: Then to explain why I think it is relevant to this project and blog. So one might validly ask why this is relevant to a blog on learning the art of photography? It’s just that I stumbled across several references to this book from respected sources, that I felt compelled to buy and read it. He has no truck with landscapes, portraits, still life, nudes, or any other form of art photography. To him the essence of photography is the fact that it occurred and can only occur once. Tim Flack’s fine book on horse photography, ‘Equus’, ends with this quote from Barthes’ book: “Ultimately a photograph looks like anyone except the person it represents.” Scope & Objective of this Postīarthes is only interested in documentary photography. However, without knowledge of this intent, the viewer may see the image differently, and derive a meaning entirely personal to them. The photographer, and the subject, if it is a person aware of being photographed, can suggest an implied meaning. A meaning which, as I show below, may change from person to person or evolve over time. A photograph, by contrast, is undeniably “something that was”, and it is up to the viewer to infer meaning. History is a perspective on past events always open to challenge and contradiction.

Cameras and Lenses for 10,000 Hours of Deliberate Practiceīarthes describes the essence of photography as distinct from both art and history.Īrt, he contests, is the result of a creative process undertaken by an artist whereas a photograph is primarily the preservation of “something that was”.

Photography – Style, Philosophy and Aspirations.

Lucida book