Paul Strand- Abstraction

Paul Strand- Abstraction, Twin Lakes, Connecticut, 1916

Part of the Collection (American, 1890–1976)


Visual Language: Sepia, shape, shadow and light, diagonal composition, pattern, unconventional angle/viewpoint, image is split into sections of busyness, 

Themes: Abstraction, Forms, Cubism, modernism

Technical Aspects: Silver–platinum print; 32.8 x 24.4 cm, soft focusing, British Ensign Reflex camera producing 3-1/4 x 4-1/4" negatives, has been enlarged by projection to make a larger negative for this contact print.



This picture is among the first photographic abstractions to be made intentionally. When Alfred Stieglitz published a variant of it in Camera Work, he praised Strand's results as "the direct expression of today." Porch shadows and tipped-over tables are not specifically modern, but Strand's picture of them is, for it does not depend upon recognizable imagery for its effect, but rather on the precise relations of forms within the frame. 

Strand made several radical choices in this work: he abandoned the traditional, upright perspective of the photograph; caused the table to appear tipped, as if to suspend its utilitarian function and deployed shadows to create powerful compositional diagonals.  

Strand seemed to be heavily influenced by the cubist movement, experimenting with greater abstraction in his compositions, gradually abandoning a recognizable picture plane and comprehensible subject matter. 

Cubism
The cubist movement strived for abstraction through fragmentation, multiple points of view, and a reduction of people and objects to basic geometry—a photographic form. The act of taking a small part of a scene and abstracting it from everything else is a method I used in my own homage. The Cubist painters reject the inherited concept that art should copy nature, or that they should adopt the traditional techniques of perspective, modeling, and foreshortening. 

Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler created this short silent film that presents a day in the life of lower Manhattan. The sequences display the artists approach to photography and their photographic response to life, featuring extreme camera angles and unusual viewpoints to capture New York's dynamic qualities- aspects of his work that I referenced in my own homage. 

My Homage

Primarily I paid homage to strand's image in terms of visual language, namely the emphasis upon a similar diagonal composition, use of pattern, and even referenced some of the sepia tonal values. I also felt it important to reference the use of light and shadow, which is a key componant of Strand's image, however I use the light differently, casting some parts of the slanting lines into shadow with the use of harsh lighting rather than letting the shadows govern the shot, the highlights are doing so.

I was also referencing a theme of Strand's which was Cubism, I was able to take a very small part of a scene and abstract it from everything else. By composing what is really only the joining of ceiling and wall and drawing the eye to the shapes that make up an everyday scene it strongly references that key influence of Strand's. 

Also in terms of viewpoint, I decided to shoot this image at rather an odd angle to reference the way in which Strand liked to compose his shots. 

He said of photography   "…the camera machine cannot evade the objects which are in front of it. No more can the photographer. He can choose these objects, arrange and exclude, before exposure, but not afterwards". 
After realizing the extent to which Strand is aware of what lies within those framing boarders, I took that away and paid homage to the clearly constructed lines flawlessly placed upon each plane, typical of his work. 

I also referenced the theme of abstraction rather overtly as well as the visual concept of texture, the speckles upon the stone table is mirrored in the textured walls and ceilings of my own image.