Saturday, June 23, 2007

EDWIN SMITH, PHOTOGRAPHER

Edwin Smith was an English photographer who did most of the pictures he's famous for in the 1950s. I don't think any of his photos are well-known. He's renowned instead for the consistency of his work. Almost every major picture he took was thought provoking in some way. You won't get a sense of what I'm talking about if you look at the small versions. Be sure to click to enlarge.

Seen large the wrought iron gazebo above is awe inspiring. Imagine a building that large which serves no purpose except to enclose an area and make us aware of the space inside. Our senses are so adjusted that we find space itself beautiful when it's presented to us in the right way. The builder added swirling vine shapes to remind us how profound the simplest things in nature are.


Here's (above) a back room in a country church. The irregular slate floors and white, chalky walls enclose the space perfectly. The window admits diffused light into the room. It's a great window because its design elements of mathematical, intellectual purity co-exist with the primitive, textured, irregular walls that surround it. People are like that -- intellectually sophisticated and primitive at the same time. Even the furniture speaks about this dual nature of ours. Without using words or arguments the room forces us to think about who we are and how we fit into the world.
Here (above) are Roman-type sculptures and buildings in a garden setting. It's a Utopian vision of high human ideals co-existing with nature. A book trying to make the same point would risk skepticism by the reader. Art makes the point wordlessly and it sticks. Visual art is like music. It bypasses intellectual barriers and carries its argument directly to the viewer's mind. Artists have it in their power to change the world every bit as much as novelists and philosophers.

6 comments:

William said...

Can't believe I've never heard of him! Excellent analysis on the church room. The space looks like it was all chiselled out and carved by rough, calloused hands and then filled with soft light to coat the texture. It is a noble, stimulating humility with a door and stair. You could wake up, eat, live and sleep at night in this room.

What a fine Christian room.

Lester Hunt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lester Hunt said...

Eddie, Your comments on the garden photo put me in mind of Hicks' Peaceable Kingdom. Other pictures that express ideas are van Gogh's The Potato Eaters and Millet's The Angelus. Both are about human equality and the dignity of labor.

I agree though that visual artists influence the mind in a radically different way from novelists and philosophers

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Lester: Thanks for the links. I'm a big fan of Van Gogh's color work and drawings but I can't get close to The Potato Eaters. I don't know why. I like the Hicks.

Herbert Read has a book with the tantalizing title, "Education Through Art." The book is a disappointment but the title is interesting. Could you build a good education around visual art? I'm skeptical but I'd like to see the subject argued.

Lester Hunt said...

Eddie,

I guess my view is that images can express concepts but in order to express full-fledged principles or theories you need words. This means that words and images work very well together to enlighten (or propagandize) the mind. I was never a fan of The Potato Eaters until I saw it next to a plaque with a quote from a letter to Theo about how moved he was to see these simple people eating the food that they had produced with their own hands, and so "had earned their meal honestly." The words added a whole dimension to the picture that, for me, made it overwhelmingly powerful.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Lester: "Honestly." You're right. That does add something.