1,721,085 research outputs found
Lens Drawn to Crowds of Human Beings: la folla nella fotografia
No full textIn this essay the author traces the crowd as a subject in the history of photography from its beginning to the present. From the pioneers of the camera obscura to the versatile professionals of our day towards the artistic imagination of a first reconnaissance of the photographed crowd techniques and languages. In seeking to understand the role of photographers that had their lens drawn to crows of human beings, this paper explores the strategies and effects of a number of this subgenre’s most notable exponents. Most recently images made during the collapse of the Soviet Union in the fall of 1991 or those that recorded the massive crowd of people which attended the widely celebrated Pink Floyd Concert at the Veniatian Feast of the Redeemer in 1989, are only few of the instances here discussed
Capturing the Italian townscape : from the beginnings of Italian landscape photography to the anti-idyllic images of Ivor and Ivy de Wolfe
No full textThis paper focusses on the photographic illustrations which appeared in a very odd book published in 1963: The Italian Townscape. Its author, curiously named Ivor de Wolfe on the front cover, was in fact Hubert de Cronin Hastings, a major figure in architectural publishing. The photographs were taken mainly by Ivy de Wolfe (another pseudonym), in reality
Hastings’s wife, Hazel. Fifty years later, Erdem Erten and Alan Powers, as editors, published a new edition, aimed at the general public. In their brilliant introductory essay the topic of
photography is considered with a light touch. In the same period, Robert Elwall had spent time and energy revaluating the images and the photographers. In his article entitled
‘Road show’ (RIBA Journal, June, 2005) and during a speech at the Retrospective Symposium on The Architectural Review’s Townscape Campaign (22nd July, 2011), Elwall discussed the
visual approach to urbanism as a hallmark of the Italian planning stance towards historical towns. Images of Sabbioneta, Padua and Loreto were among the examples considered.
The process of touring Italy with a camera after the Townscape debates in the 1950s persuaded Hazel Hastings to suggest an uncommon idea of the Italian cultural landscape, a new
appreciation of both historical and contemporary vernacular elements of the built environment, and a tension between the understanding of pedestrian and vehicular urban scales.
In introducing some of these themes, my paper will draw on a range of evidence from visual echoes, to shared language, to occasional statements on the subject by Italian photographers and town planners
A photography enquiry on the natural order of architecture : Edward Allen's picture of trulli building technique
No full textSouthern Italy has always been a place of imaginary discovery for foreign architects and architectural historians with a strong passion for photography. The ‘Beehive’ homes in Italy’s Heel were an extraordinary subject for architectural magazines and books. It is in Edward Allen's book Stone Shelters (1969), on the unique conical-roofed trulli of the Apulia region, that we can find an in-depth study on photography and vernacular Mediterranean architecture. The iconographic apparatus of the book, photographed and drawn by the young architect, reveals the beauty of trulli building technique. Allen was astonished by the surprising mastery shown by the local masons, who used only stone and mortar to build up their vaults and arches. Probably Giuseppe Pagano’s brief and combative article ‘Documenting Rural Architecture’, appeared in Casabella in November 1935, inspired Allen to visit Apulia, as it had happened earlier to Enrico Peressutti, Emil Otto Hoppé, Giancarlo De Carlo, Federico Vender and Bernard Rudofsky. All of them with the aid of a camera had a primary purpose: to gain an understanding of a vernacular architecture as it relates to the geography of a land and the history of its people. Allen’s handsome book about vernacular architecture attracts the eye and engages the mind. The careful craftsmanship of the buildings described is paralleled by a disciplined photographic research. The aim of the paper is to clarify the role of Edward Allen as a global surveyor of structural forms with a renewed interest in architectural photography
G. E. Kidder Smith builds : the travel of architectural photography
No full textThe volume represents the very first book dedicated to George Everard Kidder Smith (1913–1997). It deals with his life and work underlining his ability to document and interpret historical architecture and the great buildings. His books were aimed at the layman, and books such as Brazil Builds, Italy Builds, The New Churches of Europe, Pictorial History of Architecture in America, to mention only a few of them, received tremendous critical and popular acclaim.
As an author, educator, photographer, and “builder” of books and exhibitions, G. E. Kidder Smith was a multidimensional figure within the wide-ranging field of North American architectural professionals in the second half of the twentieth century. From his start during the volatile years leading up to, during, and immediately following the Second World War, Kidder Smith excited the imagination of the general public as well as architecture professionals by publishing photographyrich books about new and old buildings in a range of countries. Although Kidder Smith was propelled in his travels by a powerful wanderlust, he was no flaneur.
He trained as an architect and he chose not to practice within the conventional strictures of an architecture office. Instead, Kidder Smith “designed,” researched, wrote, and photographed a remarkably diverse collection of books about architecture and the built environment. His work and life were deeply interwoven and punctuated by travel related to the research, writing, and promotion of books that sought to reveal the genius loci of the countries whose built environments he admired and wished to share with a broader audience.
From the early 1940s to the late 1950s his interest in architecture led him to describe visually the architectural and historical identity of many European countries. After his far-flung travels over the decades, with his wife Dorothea, Kidder Smith focused on his own country and produced a series of ambitious books focused on the United States. Kidder Smith’s vision and narrative betray the gaze of the traveler, the scholar, and the architect
Venice’s time warp: The visual metamorphosis of a floating city
No full textThe author shows how photographs can render the passage of time. The essay looks at the Visual Metamorphosis of Venice. The photobooks discussed provide insight into the poetry and lyricism of one of the most photographed cities in the world, while also capturing the enigmatically blurred landscapes and disorientating close-ups that identify the destruction
of its physical heritage. Taken as a whole, this essay focuses on the photobook as a form of urban narrative: a tool that has been variously deployed to read, analyse and interpret Venice
through curated sequences of images, often in conjunction with literary or critical
texts
Men as mimic of Nature: Enlightenment bridge builders and construction technology in water
No full textLe tradizioni costruttive della Murgia dei trulli nell’immaginario fotografico degli architetti (1913-1969)
Full text linkThe trullo typology in Apulia is closely linked to rural life and survival of local people. The power of the photographic document has stimulated
many architects’ interests not only anthropologically but also toward the trullo’s building techniques. The essay examines the gaze
of numerous architects who, with the help of a camera, have documented these vernacular shelters that dot and punctuate the landscape of
the Murgia of the trulli
A New Chromatic Vision: The Early Impact of Color Photography on the Representation of Architecture
No full textAttempts to develop colour photography had been undertaken since the invention of the medium, but it was only with the introduction of the Kodachrome transparency film in 1935, followed by Kodacolor negative stock in 1942, that a major breakthrough was achieved. Although these processes later became mainstream in architectural photography, there has been no clear account of its origins in practice. The aim of this paper is to explore the connection between the chromatic values of architectural design and its visual transmission in the early phase of modernism
The Forth Bridge’s Human Cantilever: Engineering, Photography and Representation
No full textDuring the Victorian Age, when the results of ambitious engineering radically transformed the principles of construction,
photography proved to be a faithful and indispensable witness. This is plainly seen in the magnificent enterprise to build the railway
bridge over the Forth River, accurately captured by the lens of the photographer and engineer Evelyn George Carey, whose excellent
work to record those events is without equal. His almost daily annotations were free from symbolic meaning and monumental
tendencies: it was the bridge itself that held the most important role. In the form of an experiment it was decided to illustrate the
principle of the cantilever at the Royal Institution in 1887. It was during that particular circumstance that Carey produced the famous
photographic image of the Human Cantilever. Carey presents to the observer an encyclopaedic array of representations and helps to
truly visualise engineering
Walter Rosenblum Master of Photography
No full textWalter Rosenblum (New York, October 1, 1919 - January 23, 2006) was a prominent figure in the history of photography for over half a century. This volume explores his life, work, and the significant historical events he documented, providing a comprehensive look at his contributions to the field of photography. During his youth, Rosenblum’s firsthand experience with immigrant conditions in America shaped his empathetic approach to photography and commitment to social justice. As an active member of the Photo League, he documented the social issues of his time. He captured the struggles during the Great Depression and the realities of World War II, providing a crucial visual record of these significant historical events. His photographic legacy provides a profound insight into the moments he vividly captured and highlights the passionate determination to capture the essence of his subjects. / Walter Rosenblum (New York, 1 ottobre 1919 - 23 gennaio 2006) è stato un esponente di spicco nella storia della fotografia per oltre mezzo secolo. Questo volume esplora la sua vita, il suo lavoro e gli eventi storici significativi che egli ha documentato, offrendo uno sguardo completo ai suoi contributi nel campo della fotografia. Durante la giovinezza, l'esperienza diretta di Rosenblum delle condizioni degli immigrati in America ha plasmato il suo approccio empatico alla fotografia e il suo impegno per la giustizia sociale. Come membro attivo della Photo League, ha documentato le questioni sociali del suo tempo. Ha catturato gli stenti durante la Grande Depressione e le sanguinose realtà della Seconda Guerra Mondiale, fornendo una preziosa testimonianza visiva di questi eventi storici significativi. La sua eredità fotografica offre una profonda comprensione dei momenti che egli ha vividamente catturato e mette in risalto la sua appassionata determinazione nel cogliere l'essenza dei suoi soggetti
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