The Significance of Studying the History of World Photography

Photography is one of the great inventions of human beings in the19th century. Photography not only extends people's horizons, but also makes the moment eternal, which in a sense realizes people's desire to stop the passage of time. Photography was born in 167, and developed rapidly, including the development of photosensitive materials and cameras, which led to film, television and digital photography. Through modern media, world civilization has gradually entered a "picture-reading era". The era of image culture is the third era of human historical development after the totem era and the writing era. Susan sontag said: "A photo is not only an image, but also an interpretation of reality; It is also a trace, something directly copied from reality, like a footprint or a mask of the dead. "

1839 to August 19, at the joint meeting held by the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Fine Arts of the French Academy, L.J.M Daguerre's silver photography was announced to the world, marking the birth of photography. Because photography has the characteristics of realistic pictures, it has a great impact on the western classical realistic painting art with imitation as the mainstream. Before the publication of Daguerre's Silver Plate Photography, the western painting art has been a classical realism with imitation as the mainstream since the ancient Greek and Roman times. Especially during the Renaissance, the three Renaissance masters, represented by Leonardo da Vinci, applied the knowledge of human anatomy, perspective and chromatics to painting, pursuing the vividness of the picture, just like imitating nature. For example, Leonardo da Vinci's oil painting Mona Lisa, Raphael's oil painting Balda Cele Castillono, and contemporary French painter Anger (J.A. Ingres1780-1867) all reached the peak of classical realistic painting with imitation as the mainstream, such as Anger's oil painting Bathroom in Turkey. I wish I could paint it so realistically. However, it is difficult for any painter to do it. "

Because of the inherent superiority of photography itself, the western classical realistic painting art with imitation as the mainstream has been shaken to some extent. Susan sontag said: "Photography liberates painting and enables it to engage in its great modernist mission-abstract separation. Through some details (such as1the first impressionist exhibition in April, 847, was held in Nadal's photography studio in Capisin Street, Paris. It can be seen that the revolutionary influence of photography on art lies in the fundamental change and reconstruction of western modern artistic concepts. The birth of photography has brought a great impact on the styles and schools of western painting. Before photography appeared, western painting was a classical realistic painting with imitation as the mainstream, pursuing natural realism and rigorous picture modeling.

After the appearance of photography, the mainstream of western painting is "expression" and "abstraction", and the picture mostly expresses the painter's subjective feelings, and the shape of the picture is not entirely based on natural realism. Photography plays an irreplaceable role in the evolution and reconstruction of modern western artistic concepts. "This view is very novel.

The birth of photography has inevitably had a great impact on traditional painting and sculpture, which is an important factor to promote the conservative art form before the middle of 19 century to modern art through impressionism. Photography liberates painting from the shackles of pursuing concrete expression for thousands of years and pushes it into a broader artistic space. Artists (colleges and salons) who only pay attention to appearance and try to reproduce reality have found a threat that they can't compete with-photography. It is no wonder that the pursuit of recreating people's visual feelings has been the goal of these artists for thousands of years, and they have never thought of other development paths. Photography directly threatens this painting method, in fact, it threatens the painting art itself.

Obviously, photography has had and is having a great influence on the development of art. In the process of photography, photographers have no time to study the content carefully. They followed the painting and repeated the theme of the painting. Some naive photographers learned from the academic historical painters at that time. At that time, all painters thought that it was the artist's goal to reproduce nature, but most people found it quite difficult to do it, and it would take a lifetime of energy. For other serious painters, reproduction is only a part of artistic creation. But no matter what the purpose of art is, before the birth of photography, no painter ever questioned the basic theory of reproduction.

The ability of photography to accurately reproduce nature is incomparable to painting. Realism school tried hard, but inevitably failed. The theme of traditional painting, such as scenery, still life, people, etc. In particular, the theme of characters is most suitable for photography and is most loved by the audience. Taking pictures of people is much more time-saving and more accurate than drawing pictures. The painter had to put himself in the other's shoes, and there began to be a tendency to deviate from the true reproduction in his mind. The first reaction is color, which impressionist painters first paid attention to. However, with the invention of color photography and film and their commercial potential, the practices of impressionists and painters after impressionism will disappear. The subsequent reaction was abstract deformation, and the artist's attitude towards reproduction gradually changed. The kaleidoscope image obtained by camera is more encouraging than painting. At the same time, people are more and more interested in the visual arts of different foreign cultures, especially the primitive tribal culture and art. The ancestors did not pay attention to specifics, but their ability to express information directly and concisely was amazing.