Contemporary artists & photography | Online Art Magazine | ArtReview

Do you think photography is an art?

"There are three views of photography commonly discussed in all realms of art by critics, painters, and photographers pertaining to whether photography is beneficial to art or whether it is art at all. The first view is that photography is not an art because it is produced with a mechanical device and by chemical and physical phenomenon not by hand and inspiration. The second view is that photographs would be useful to art but should not be equal in creativeness to painting and drawing. The final theory is that because photography is so similar to lithography and etching then it would be beneficial to the arts as well as culture."

"Photography has played a controversial but an important role in the arts for the last 150 years. The question still remains whether photography is an art or a new form of documentation seen by the eye instead of the mind."

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Pete Massingham on January 27, 2011 at 8:56

The whole discussion is getting crazy. If canned soup, or canned shit for that matter can be art, I'm pretty certain photographs can fit the bill too. Thomas Ruff amongst others, has shown that pornography can be art. There are no boundaries! Ha! That was canned laughter!

John Neville Cohen said:

I agree with you Eurico, but it is the content and the quality of the picture that should be valued. No matter what method was used to achieve the result. So what I maintain is that all forms of photography be it film, digital, pin hole, Black and White or colour, should be considered art, regardless of the technique used, providing the end result has the required special qualities.

John Neville Cohen said:

I am no expert and I am certainly not that young anymore, but for what it is worth here are my thoughts.

Any medium these days can be called 'ART' and many of us have difficulty in appreciating certain claimed art forms. I am not convinced that we should all follow like sheep what the art critics, the galleries, or what the so-called experts tell us. I believe it is mostly the test of time that provides clarification of what is really deemed good art. But even then there are times when there are fashions that can change and influence this test.

So I say follow your heart, decide for yourself, most of us instinctively know what is great art for us!

Lastly, photography has been used to produce wonderful art. The only important aspect in deciding if a photograph is art is the quality of the picture and the content! These questions: - Was it is created on film? Was it is created as a digital image? How was it was made? Simply are only as a matter of curiosity.

Eurico Lino do Vale said:

The diference between Art and not art, when you decide either medium is Art or not art depends on the way this medium is used.

I Know painters that are not artists they simply paint walls.