Themes > Pictorialism

Pictorialism

The international movement known as Pictorialism represented both a photographic aesthetic and a set of principles about photography’s role as art. Pictorialists believed that photography should be understood as a vehicle for personal expression on par with the other fine arts. Responding to both the new Kodak camera “snapshooters” and formulaic commercial photographers, the Pictorialists proudly defined themselves as true amateurs—those who pursued photography out of a love for the art.

 

Pictorialism emerged toward the end of the nineteenth century and flourished for several decades thereafter. Inspired by the theories of such artists as Henry Peach Robinson (who advocated compositional techniques aligned with academic painting) and Peter Henry Emerson (who promoted naturalistic photography, with areas of diffused focus), Pictorialists also looked back to early photographers Julia Margaret Cameron and David Octavius Hill as touchstones.

 

In order to further photography’s acceptance as an art, Pictorialists embraced the medium’s painterly qualities. They often preferred romantic or idealized imagery over the documentation of modern life, welcoming artistic composition and soft focus. They labored in the darkroom to produce unique works of art, employing time-consuming processes, such as gum bichromate printing and photogravure, that showed the artist’s hand. They cared greatly about how their work was presented, mounting their photographs on layers of tinted papers and advising on their framing and hanging in exhibitions.

 

The movement comprised loosely linked camera clubs and societies in Europe, the United States, and Australia. Organizations such as the Brotherhood of the Linked Ring in England (founded 1892) and Alfred Stieglitz’s Photo-Secession in New York (formed 1902) mounted international salons and exhibitions, published portfolios and journals, and developed an influential aesthetic discourse about photography. The movement waned around the dawn of World War I—the Linked Ring disbanded in 1910, and Stieglitz, gravitating toward straight photography, published the last issue of his journal Camera Work in 1917—although smaller societies kept Pictorialist ideas alive through the 1930s.

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AIC_1949-690_Ta
Alfred Stieglitz

The Net Mender, 1894

n
AIC_1949-830_T
Edward Steichen

Midnight Lake George, 1904

n
AIC_1949-859_T
F. Holland Day

Menelek, 1896/1902

n
AIC_1949-868_T
Heinrich Kühn

Portrait of Young Boy with Arm Across Back of Chair (Hans Kühn), c. 1906

n
AIC_1949-821_T
Frederick H. Evans

Piscina in Chancel of Little Snoring Church, Norfolk, England, c. 1905

n
AIC_1949-874_T
Edward Steichen

Kitty and Alfred Stieglitz, 1905

n
AIC_1949-878_T
Julia Margaret Cameron

Sir John Herschel, 1867, printed 1875

n
AIC_1949-663_T
James Craig Annan

A Venetian Requiem, 1894

n
AIC_1949-664_T
James Craig Annan

Venice from Lido, c. 1894

n
AIC_1949-665_T
James Craig Annan

Pipa, c. 1894

n
AIC_1949-666_T
James Craig Annan

A Mendicant, c. 1894

n
AIC_1949-667_T
James Craig Annan

A Lombardy Pastoral, 1894

n
AIC_1949-668_T
James Craig Annan

Stirling Castle, c. 1903

n
AIC_1949-669_T
James Craig Annan

Bolney Backwater, c. 1908

n
AIC_1949-670_T
James Craig Annan

Ploughing on the Campagnetta, 1894

n
AIC_1949-671_T
Frank Eugene

La Cigale, 1898

n
AIC_1949-672_T
Frank Eugene

Portrait of Miss Jones, c. 1899

n
AIC_1949-673_T
Frank Eugene

Portrait of Goetz, c. 1900

n
AIC_1949-674_T
Frank Eugene

Portrait of Alfred Stieglitz, c. 1899

n
AIC_1949-675_T
Frank Eugene

Portrait of Two Young Men, 1905/15

n
AIC_1949-676_T
Frank Eugene

Small Boy Dressed as a Faun, 1908

n
AIC_1949-677_T
Frank Eugene

Portrait of a Woman, c. 1900

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AIC_1949-678_T
Frank Eugene

La Cigale, 1898

n
AIC_1949-679_T
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson

[The] Revd Mr [Thomas Henshaw] Jones, 1843/46

n
AIC_1949-680_T
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson

Dr. Chalmers, 1843/46, printed 1890/1900

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AIC_1949-681_T
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson

Lord Cockburn at Bonaly, 1846/47

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AIC_1949-682_T
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson

Portrait of Mrs. Rigby, 1844

n
AIC_1949-683_T
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson

Sir John McNeill, 1845, printed 1890/1900

n
AIC_1949-684_T
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson

Portrait of James Nasmyth, c. 1844, printed 1890/1900

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AIC_1949-685_T
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson

Portrait of Two Men (John Henning and Alexander Handyside Ritchie), c. 1845, printed 1890/1900

n
AIC_1949-686_T
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson

Lord Robertson, 1843/46, printed 1890/1900

n
AIC_1949-687_T
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson

Mrs. Anna Brownell Jameson, 1844

n
aic_1949-689_t
Alfred Stieglitz

An Icy Night, New York, 1898

n
AIC_1949-699_T
Alfred Stieglitz

A Street in Sterzing, The Tyrol, 1890

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AIC_1949-822_T
Frederick H. Evans

York Minster: Looking from the Chapter House Interior, c. 1902

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AIC_1949-823_T
Edward Steichen

Self-Portrait with Brush and Palette, 1902

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AIC_1949-824_T
Edward Steichen

Portrait of George Frederick Watts, 1901, printed 1903

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AIC_1949-825_T
Edward Steichen

Rodin, Le Penseur, 1902

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AIC_1949-826_T
Edward Steichen

Rodin, Paris, 1907

n
AIC_1949-827_T
Edward Steichen

Portrait of Alfred Stieglitz, 1915

n
AIC_1949-828_T
Edward Steichen

Portrait of Clarence White, 1908

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AIC_1949-829_T
Edward Steichen

Midnight Lake George, 1904

n
AIC_1949-831_T
Frank Eugene

The Horse, c. 1900

n
AIC_1949-832_T
Frank Eugene

Sir Henry Irving, c. 1900

n
AIC_1949-833_T
Frank Eugene

Hortensia, 1898

n
AIC_1949-834_T
Frank Eugene

Brigitta, c. 1906

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AIC_1949-835_T
Frank Eugene

Portrait of Alfred Stieglitz, c. 1899

n
Alfred Stieglitz

The City of Ambitions, 1910

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AIC_1949-837_T
Alfred Stieglitz

Spring – The Child, 1901

n
AIC_1949-838_T
Alfred Stieglitz

The Flatiron, 1903

n
AIC_1949-839_T
Alfred Stieglitz

The Street, Fifth Avenue, 1900/01

n
AIC_1949-840_T
Alfred Stieglitz

The Railroad Yard, Winter, 1903

n
AIC_1949-841_T
Alfred Stieglitz

Going to the Post, Morris Park, 1904

n
AIC_1949-842_T
Alfred Stieglitz

On the Seine—Near Paris, 1894, printed 1897

n
AIC_1949-843_T
Alfred Stieglitz

Outward Bound, The Mauretania, 1910

n
AIC_1949-844_T
Alfred Stieglitz

Two Towers, New York, 1911

n
AIC_1949-845_T
Alfred Stieglitz

Old and New New York, 1910

n
AIC_1949-848_T
Alfred Stieglitz

The Terminal, 1893

n
AIC_1949-850_T
Alfred Stieglitz

The Hand of Man, 1902

n
AIC_1949-851_T
Clarence H. White

Alfred Stieglitz, 1907/1908

n
AIC_1949-852_T
Clarence H. White

The Fountain, 1905/1906

n
AIC_1949-853_T
Clarence H. White

Evening—Mother and Boys, 1905

n
aic_1949-854_t
Clarence H. White

Untitled, 1901/05

n
AIC_1949-855_T
Clarence H. White

Sunlight, 1899, printed 1901

n
AIC_1949-856_T
Clarence H. White

Girl with Muff, 1906

n
AIC_1949-857_T
F. Holland Day

Ethiopian Monarch, 1897, printed c. 1902

n
AIC_1949-858_T
F. Holland Day

An Ethiopian Chief, 1897, printed c. 1902 [?]

n
AIC_1949-860_T
F. Holland Day

Study of Head of Christ, 1898

n
AIC_1949-861_T
Sarah Choate Sears

Portrait of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, c. 1900

n
AIC_1949-863_T
Heinrich Kühn

The Artist’s Umbrella (Der Malschirm), 1908

n
AIC_1949-864_T
Heinrich Kühn

Portrait of Two Children, 1910

n
AIC_1949-865_T
Heinrich Kühn

Still Life with Fruit, 1910

n
AIC_1949-866_T
Heinrich Kühn

On the Hillside (A Study in Values), 1910

n
AIC_1949-867_T
Heinrich Kühn

Portrait of Stieglitz, 1900/10

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Heinrich Kühn

Seated Woman Untying Slipper, c. 1910

n
AIC_1949-870_T
Heinrich Kühn

Portrait of Stieglitz, 1909

n
AIC_1949-871_T
Edward Steichen

Winter Landscape, 1899

n
AIC_1949-872_T
Edward Steichen

Young Tycoon (Self-Portrait), c. 1902

n
AIC_1949-873_T
Edward Steichen

The Pool, 1899

n
AIC_1949-875_T
Julia Margaret Cameron

Robert Browning, 1865, printed 1875

n
AIC_1949-876_T
Julia Margaret Cameron

Robert Browning, 1865, printed 1875

n
aic_1949-877_t
Julia Margaret Cameron

Thomas Carlyle, 1867, printed 1875

n
AIC_1949-879_T
Julia Margaret Cameron

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1869, printed 1875

n
AIC_1949-880_T
Julia Margaret Cameron

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1868, printed 1875

n
aic_1949-881_t
Julia Margaret Cameron

Charles Darwin, c. 1868, printed 1875

n
aic_1949-882_t
Julia Margaret Cameron

Herr Joseph Joachim, 1868, printed 1875

n
AIC_1949-883_T
Julia Margaret Cameron

Sir John Herschel, 1867, printed 1875

n
AIC_1949-886_T
Alfred Stieglitz

A Venetian Canal, 1894, printed 1897

n
AIC_1949-887_T
Alfred Stieglitz

A Wet Day on the Boulevard, Paris, 1894, printed c. 1897

n
AIC_1949-888_T
Alfred Stieglitz

Reflections—Venice, 1894, printed 1897

n
AIC_1949-889_T
Alfred Stieglitz

Scurrying Home, 1894, printed 1897

n
AIC_1952-305_T
Edward Steichen

Clara Steichen with Bowl of Oranges, 1907

n
AIC_1952-306_T
Edward Steichen

Still Life with Rodin Statue, 1907

n
AIC_1952-307_T
Edward Steichen

Girl with Lilacs, c. 1907

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aic_1952-308_t
attributed to Frank Eugene

Emmeline Stieglitz, 1907

n
aic_1952-309_t
attributed to Frank Eugene

Kitty Stieglitz in a Field with Blue Flowers, 1907

n
aic_1952-311_t
Alfred Stieglitz

Frank Eugene Seated at Table, 1907

n
aic_1952-312_t
Alfred Stieglitz

Dr. Fritz Raab: Sunspots, 1907

n
AIC_1952-313_T
Alfred Stieglitz

Mrs. Edward Stieglitz, 1907

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aic_1952-314_t
Alfred Stieglitz

Kitty Stieglitz, c. 1907

n
AIC_1952-315_T
Alfred Stieglitz

Kitty Stieglitz, c. 1907

n
aic_1952-316_t
Alfred Stieglitz

Kitty Stieglitz, c. 1907

n
aic_1952-317_t
Alfred Stieglitz

Child with Striped Dress (Younger Raab Child), 1907

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