Skip to content

Dharma Documentaries

Buddhism and Its Cultures

Menu
  • Dharma
  • Culture
  • Ecology
  • Archives
  • About
Menu

The Genius of Photography 2: Documents for Artists

Posted on September 9, 2011March 20, 2022 by Dharma Documentaries
The second documentary in this BBC series examines the various movements that arose in photography in the first half of the 20th century by focusing on some of the representative workers in the field.

The second documentary in this BBC series examines the various movements that arose in photography in the first half of the 20th century by focusing on some of the representative workers in the field.

In Germany August Sander became a master of the portrait photograph, capturing not the image that people may want to project, but a much deeper psychological reality that was lurking just under the surface.

This was of course not exactly to the liking of the Nazis, who had ideals of their own that were to be served, and he was eventually reduced to being a passport photographer – but still the quirkyness in his subjects shines through.

On the other hand the artist Alexander Rodchenko in the newly founded Soviet Union gave up painting in favour of the “objective” art of photography, and put his skills of photo-montage at the service of the proletariat.

In Paris meanwhile Eugene Atget was working as a commercial photographer offering documents for artists, but surpassed his own ambitions, by documenting a quickly disappearing city and culture.

The great surrealist Man Ray lived on the same street as Atget and eventually “discovered” him, but he himself was busy reinventing the art, and pushing it to its limits.

In the States Walker Evans was employed by the Government to document the Great Depression, and the good works they were making to relieve it. His photographs of sharecroppers and their lives remain classics to this day.

When the the Second World War came to England, people used to living above ground in London took to the underground and the underground shelters, which was the only way to escape the perpetual bombing. Bill Brandt documented their almost surreal lives under the Earth.

 

if the video does not appear on the page, try reloading the page; and if that doesn’t work, leave a comment so I can update the page (the comment is not published)

 

Photography
Photograph by August Sander

 

Photography
Photograph by Alexander Rodchenko

 

Photography
Photograph by Eugene Atget

 

Photography
Photograph by Man Ray

 

Photography
Photograph by Walker Evans

 

Photography
Photograph by Bill Brandt

 

TAGS:
Culture, Arts, England, France, History, Russia, USA

2 thoughts on “The Genius of Photography 2: Documents for Artists”

  1. Dessy says:
    March 14, 2024 at 12:07 pm

    Hi, my name is Dessy, I came to this page to warch the part 2 of this series, would you update the page? Because I can’t see the vidio . Thank You

    Reply
    1. Dharma Documentaries says:
      November 18, 2024 at 12:36 pm

      The video is still available. Try reloading the page.

      Reply

Leave a Reply to Dessy Cancel reply

Comments do not appear straight away, but are moderated before publication

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Subscriptions

Follow our Facebook Page Follow our Tweets Subscribe to our Feed

Subscribe by Email

Email


Shortlink and QR

https://dharma-documentaries.net/b/1Tu

Donations

This site has taken more than fifteen years and 1,000s of hours to build, and has more than a thousand documentaries on it. If you would like to help, you can do so here. Even small amounts make a difference.

Copyright

If anyone has any copyright claims please contact me at dharmadocus@gmail.com and the posts and films will be immediately removed.

Top Ten Tags

Theravada
Mahayana
Vajrayana

India
Silk Road
China
Tibet

Arts
Lectures
Women

Sponsorship

 hosting sponsored by exabytes.my 

Random Posts

  • 102 Minutes that Changed America
  • The Story of Buddhism 05, Stupas of the Krishna Valley
  • The Genius of Photography 6: Snap Judgements
  • The Miracle of Bali 2: Night
  • Ancient Futures, Learning from Ladakh
  • The Mark of Empire 4, Majapahit
  • The Story of Buddhism by Benoy K Behl
  • A Buddhist Kingdom Beneath the Sands
  • Land of Buddha
  • Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty

Recent Posts

  • Thangka-Paubha, Beyond The Canvas
  • Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty
  • Amala, The Life and Struggle of the Dalai Lama’s Sister
  • Chadar, the Ice Trail
  • Brancaccio, Buddhist Monasticism in Kanheri
  • Marco Polo, The Great Explorer
  • 1948, Creation & Catastrophe
  • Bhutan, Back to the Roots along with Matthieu Ricard
  • Walid Haddad, Jātaka, the Buddhas Past Birth-Stories, 02
  • Walid Haddad, Jātaka, the Buddhas Past Birth-Stories, 01

Related Posts:

  • The Genius of Photography 6: Snap Judgements
  • The Genius of Photography 1: Fixing the Shadows
  • The Genius of Photography 4: Paper Movies
  • The Genius of Photography 3: Right Time, Right Place
  • Ansel Adams: American Wilderness Photographer
  • Master Sheng Yen
  • A Force More Powerful 04, Denmark
  • Ganden Gonba, Tibet (Expoza)
  • Dharma Master Cheng Yen
  • The Glory of Dunhuang 4, The Unknown Master
© 2025 Dharma Documentaries | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme