During Strand’s teenage years he encountered Alfred
Stieglitz at his “Gallery at 291” where he was absolutely enamored by the work
that he experienced. Nearing the end of
Strand’s being he stated "I walked out of that place that day feeling, this
is what I wanted to do, this is what I would like to do in my life. From then
on, it was a struggle to try and fulfill that dream." * The
“struggle” that Strand’s referring to seems to be one within himself. This
internal conflict can be arguably one of the main factors in what makes his
photographs successful. Strand continued to visit the Gallery at 291 and
converse with Steiglitz, who kept him up-to-date with the Modern Art movement
deriving in Europe. Strand imparted Stieglitz's developing baffle to the pictorialism
movement, and more specifically his increasing demand that photography should
take advantage of the alternative possibilities and the chance to explore
abstraction in reality. More over, photography’s capacity to depict the scene
with more noteworthy event of a particular moment or location than one could do
through a medium like painting. Strand began to explore lines, space, and
geometrical forms around 1915. The images produced during this time were almost
polar-opposite of what was romanticized in the work of the pictorialist. This
style of imagery and portrayal of the world around us is what truly defined his
early career. Porch Shadows is a
great example of a definitive moment in this point of his career. It is
composed of dynamic curvature highlighted by the light shining through the
porch posts, creating an almost perfect section of lines. The ground divides
the lines creating an angular view as if the image is three-dimensional. Which
in turn, gives the image depth and eliminating the viewer’s sense of space.
* Maddow, Ben. “A View from below: Paul
Strand’s Monumental Presence.” American
Art 5, no. 3 (Summer 1991): 48-67.
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| Photo Credit: http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/66878 |
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