Modernism

Modernism in photography refers to a set of movements and ideas, roughly from the early 20th century to the mid-century, that sought new ways of seeing suited to rapidly changing technological and social conditions. It is linked to the broader modernist ambition to reveal a reality behind surface appearances and to express universal aspects of life rather than inherited cultural embellishments. In photography, this meant both asserting the medium’s distinctive capacities and addressing the modern world of industry, cities, and speed. In the United States, a key strand developed around Alfred Stieglitz and the straight photograph, while in Europe and Japan, modernist photography encompassed varied tendencies, often in dialogue with contemporary avant-garde art and design movements.

Aesthetically, modernist photographers accept the camera as a mechanical, technological instrument and work with its specific limitations and strengths. They favor straight, minimally manipulated images that avoid imitating painting or etching, aiming instead at a lucid rendering of "the thing itself." Sharp focus, precise definition, strong composition, and dramatic light and shadow are hallmarks, with formal structure often foregrounded as a subject in its own right. Practitioners explore unusual vantage points from above or below, close-ups, and extreme angles to develop a distinct visual language. Some, such as Group f/64, codify a high-modernist standard of great depth of field, contact printing, glossy papers, and uncropped negatives, while others pursue experimental methods like photograms, multiple exposure, and macro-photography. Subjects range from natural forms and the human body to abstract patterns and the modern city.

A key defining move was explicit opposition to Pictorialism, rejecting soft focus, painterly effects, and heavy manipulation that sought to align photography with established fine arts. Related labels such as Straight or Pure Photography, New Vision or New Photography, New Objectivity, and Formalism all stress medium-specific form and clarity, marking different regional or stylistic emphases. A persistent tension runs through this discourse between claims for photographic objectivity and the desire for images that carry feeling or insight. Later critics associated with postmodern theory challenge the idea of a single photographic essence and a canon of masters shaped by art-historical narratives, arguing that such accounts downplay photography’s wider cultural and social uses, including vernacular practices.