DOI issue:
Nr. 169 (March, 1911)
DOI article:MacColl, William D.: International Exhibition of Pictoral Photography at Buffalo
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43446#0034
Buffalo Photographic Exhibition
With Permission oj the Photo Secession
TRIBUTE BY GEORGE H. SEELEY
present direction of Miss Cornelia B. Sage, that the
photographers were able to share with the academy
the honor of having their work so finely hung in one
of the most beautiful picture galleries in America.
It is from a general misapprehension of the serv-
ices which such exhibitions are likely to perform
not only to the public in
general or to the cause of
this young art in particu¬
lar, but to the cause of art
itself, that the existing
prejudice against pictorial
photography to be consid-
ered as an art may have
chiefly arisen. Hostile crit-
ics even within the ranks of
photography have accused
the new movement of un-
fairly invading the domain
of painting. It is true that
it has invaded it, and it is
not only true that it has
invaded it, but also that it
has largely conquered a
definite section of it for it¬
self. It could not be other¬
wise if pictorial photog¬
raphy was to establish its
claim to be a medium of
original and individual ar¬
tistic expression. But the
mistake arises, not in think-
ing that it may have done
this, but rather in the failure
to recognize that just by so
doing it has become an im-
portant and valuable factor
in the evolution of the other
arts. In short, if this only
meant that photography was
seeking to imitate painting
or etching, then we would
have just cause for con-
demning it; but if, on the
other hand, it is showing us
that painters have not yet
wholly learned their busi-
ness of painting—i.e., that
they still imitate photog-
raphy—then the matter is
otherwise. One thing at
least is sure, that these pho-
tographs never made us feel
the need of color to enhance
their beauty. If we turn to the exhibition itself
and its exhibitors we find that “the father of ar-
tistic photography,” as he so thoroughly deserves
to be called, the late David Octavius Hill, was him-
self a painter and a member of the Royal Scottish
Academy; and among the still comparatively lim-
With Permission oj the Photo Secession
THE ARTIST’S UMBRELLA BY HEINRICH KUHN
XII
With Permission oj the Photo Secession
TRIBUTE BY GEORGE H. SEELEY
present direction of Miss Cornelia B. Sage, that the
photographers were able to share with the academy
the honor of having their work so finely hung in one
of the most beautiful picture galleries in America.
It is from a general misapprehension of the serv-
ices which such exhibitions are likely to perform
not only to the public in
general or to the cause of
this young art in particu¬
lar, but to the cause of art
itself, that the existing
prejudice against pictorial
photography to be consid-
ered as an art may have
chiefly arisen. Hostile crit-
ics even within the ranks of
photography have accused
the new movement of un-
fairly invading the domain
of painting. It is true that
it has invaded it, and it is
not only true that it has
invaded it, but also that it
has largely conquered a
definite section of it for it¬
self. It could not be other¬
wise if pictorial photog¬
raphy was to establish its
claim to be a medium of
original and individual ar¬
tistic expression. But the
mistake arises, not in think-
ing that it may have done
this, but rather in the failure
to recognize that just by so
doing it has become an im-
portant and valuable factor
in the evolution of the other
arts. In short, if this only
meant that photography was
seeking to imitate painting
or etching, then we would
have just cause for con-
demning it; but if, on the
other hand, it is showing us
that painters have not yet
wholly learned their busi-
ness of painting—i.e., that
they still imitate photog-
raphy—then the matter is
otherwise. One thing at
least is sure, that these pho-
tographs never made us feel
the need of color to enhance
their beauty. If we turn to the exhibition itself
and its exhibitors we find that “the father of ar-
tistic photography,” as he so thoroughly deserves
to be called, the late David Octavius Hill, was him-
self a painter and a member of the Royal Scottish
Academy; and among the still comparatively lim-
With Permission oj the Photo Secession
THE ARTIST’S UMBRELLA BY HEINRICH KUHN
XII