On photography

S Sontag - Illuminations, 2021 - taylorfrancis.com
S Sontag
Illuminations, 2021taylorfrancis.com
Photography's career in the museum does not reward any particular style; rather, it presents
photography as a collection of simultaneous intentions and styles which, however different,
are not perceived as in any way contradictory. The real problem with bringing functional
photographs, photographs taken for a practical purpose, on commercial assignment, or as
souvenirs, into the mainstream of photographic achievement is not that it demeans
photography, considered as a fine art, but that the procedure contradicts the nature of most …
Photography's career in the museum does not reward any particular style; rather, it presents photography as a collection of simultaneous intentions and styles which, however different, are not perceived as in any way contradictory. The real problem with bringing functional photographs, photographs taken for a practical purpose, on commercial assignment, or as souvenirs, into the mainstream of photographic achievement is not that it demeans photography, considered as a fine art, but that the procedure contradicts the nature of most photographs. The very nature of photography implies an equivocal relation to the photographer as auteur; and the bigger and more varied the work done by a talented photographer, the more it seems to acquire a kind of corporate rather than individual authorship. Still, it seems logical that contemporary photographic taste has taken a largely formalist direction.
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