Before World
War I, Stieglitz, Steichen, and Strand had used soft focus and printed
their photographs on paper with a special texture, in order to produce
impressionistic images reminiscent both of Japanese prints and the atmospheric
paintings of the American artist J. A. M. Whistler. In the 1920s, however,
they turned to capturing minute details and abstracting natural forms,
with precision and deep emotional effect; Steichen, in particular, turned
to portraiture. They wanted, as Strand wrote, to free "the photograph
from the domination of painting."
Some of Strand's
work was published by Stieglitz in the last two issues of Camera Work;
they represent a break with the traditional subject matter of art photography
and a move toward recognizing the aesthetic value of everyday objects.
A few years later, the German photographer Albert Renger-Patzsch (1897-1966),
working independently, reached the same conclusion. In 1922 Renger-Patzsch
began making closeup photographs of natural and manufactured objects.
At the same time
worked a group of American photographers who, following Stieglitz, pursued
straight-that is, nonmanipulative-photography. In the 1930s several California
photographers formed an informal group called f/64 (f/64
is the diaphragm aperture on a lens that gives great depth of field). The
members of f/64, who included Weston, Adams, and Cunningham, shared
the belief that photographers should exploit the inherent, unique capabilities
of the camera to produce an image capturing faraway details in as sharp
focus as objects close at hand. These photographers produced straightforward
images of natural objects, people, and landscapes. Adams was preeminently
the photographer of the effects of light on scenery of the western U.S.;
Weston and Cunningham were more concerned with abstract natural forms.
