Research Material
My research has been extremely varied, sometimes I will stick with one source for ages and diligently work through it and gain deep insight into what I am studying. Other times I will start some research that will trigger a connection and I will be off chasing that down another route and jump from one topic to another, this approach can end up confusing the hell out of me but it can also reveal surprises, I like to allow myself the spontaneity even if there may be a price.
Essentially there are two distinct paths; research into how to do things and research into who does those things. This has been accomplished by mainly buying books and searching the internet, for sources and inspiration.
Laughter Is a Devastating Weapon
The life and work of John Heartfield, DADA, not all fun and games actually, photo montage, collage and the grand narratives.
“Liberty Fights in their Ranks” John Heartfield, 1936. (King and Volland, 2015, p.154)
King, David, and Ernst Volland. John Heartfield - Laughter Is a Devastating Weapon: His Original Photomontages and Printed Matter from the Akademie Der Künste Berlin and the David King Collection at Tate Modern. Tate Publ., 2015.
Propaganda Prints
Propaganda through the ages...
Moore, Colin. Propaganda Prints: A&C Book Publishing, 2011.
Propaganda Art in the 21st Century
"Propaganda is aimed not only at communicating a message, but at constructing reality itself." (P 2)"Because to construct reality we need power, we need the story of the world we aim to create, and we need a vision of what that world will come to look like." (P 9)
Staal, Jonas. Propaganda Art in the 21st Century. The MIT Press, 2019.
When i Breathe, I Draw
Works that center on the changeability of identity and the uncertainty of place, time and language.
White, Michelle. Roni Horn: When I Breathe, I Draw. Yale University Press, 2019.
Discovering the Secrets of Monsieur Pippin
As ever more complex photographic equipment records increasingly banal subject matter, Steven Pippin strips back photography to ceremony.
Paul, Frederic. Steven Pippin: Discovering the Secrets of Monsieur Pippin. Fonds Regional D'Art Contemporain, 1995.
Abstract Expressionism
Interestingly the CIA promoted these artists as counter propaganda to Soviet Realism...
Anfam, David. Abstract Expressionism. Thames and Hudson, 1990.
Visual Dissent
From where Heartfield left off...
"A long-term concern of mine has been to make images that expose the perversion of language, the politics- speak designed to sanitize barbarism. [...] The crosshairs in the series of portraits are like those used by military fighter jets, drones and helicopters to ‘find, fix, finish’ their targets. They sell the illusion of accuracy and precision, but many miss. Collateral Damage, or murder of innocents, is priced in.
"Afghanistan" Peter Kennard, 2002, (p 113)
Kennard, Peter, and Peter Brawne. Visual Dissent. Pluto Press, 2019.
Wall and Piece
But seriously, the cheek of it!
Banksy. Wall and Piece. Appl, 2006.
Street Art in Berlin
Ahh, the memories...
Jakob, Kai, et al. Street Art in Berlin: Version 7.0; Deutsch/English. Jaron-Verl., 2016.
Lets Start a Pussy Riot
Riotous activism, my kind of thing...
Neu, Emily. Let's Start a Pussy Riot. Rough Trade, 2013.
Art & Ecology Now
Focusing on contemporary artists working with landscape and the environment.
Brown, Andrew. Art & Ecology Now. Thames & Hudson, 2014.
Ways of Looking
"A is for Association. This is the most important poser of all: can I relate to it?"
Ward, Ossian. Ways of Looking: How to Experience Contemporary Art. Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2018.
Information
Documents of contemporary art; "For information art, the message is itself the medium, and the medium is the message, in an endless feedback loop"
Cook, Sarah. Information. Whitechapel Gallery, 2016.
Drawing Projects
Keeping up the visual language
Maslen, Mick, and Jack Southern. Drawing Projects: an Exploration of the Language of Drawing. Black Dog Publishing, 2015.
Secret Knowledge
This was given to me by my father in 2019, at the time I was interested in the similarities of paintings from the pre optics age c1150 and that of the impressionists which coincided with the development of photography. The camera obscura of course is the missing link!
Hockney, David. Secret Knowledge. Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2006.
Mike Ware - Website
This is a very generous website on alternative photography that I came across, with extensive history, instructions, essays and even free books that can be downloaded.
https://www.mikeware.co.uk/mikeware/main.html
Alternative Photography - Website
This is a fantastic resource that I first found by looking for contemporary cyanotype photographers, there are 3 pages of links to artists. The website covers a wide range of other alternative photographic techniques. I was able to glean many basics and potentials of cyanotype printing from these pages. Extremely useful for setting up and experimenting with many different processes.
https://www.alternativephotography.com/processes/all-articles/
The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes - Christopher James
Once my interest had been ignited I found out about this book, which is the absolute bible of the art. I found my copy on an online auction, it was expensive but worth every penny. Chapters that interested me mainly were on; pinhole photography, developing negatives, cyanotype and gum bichromate processes.
James, Christopher. The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes. Cengage Learning, 2016.
Experimental Photography: A Handbook of Techniques
Step by step instructions for nearly 40 processes.
Antonini, Marco, et al. Experimental Photography a Handbook of Techniques. Thames & Hudson, 2016.
Faking it: Manipulated Photography before Photoshop
Tracing the history of photographic manipulation, offering a a corrective to the dominant narrative of photography's development.
Fineman, Mia. Faking It: Manipulated Photography before Photoshop. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013.
Cyanotypes: Photography’s Blue Period
Published on Feb 10, 2016
Cyanotypes: Photography’s Blue Period by Nancy Kathryn Burns, Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs and Kristina Wilson, Associate Professor of Art History, Clark University Design: Kim Noonan Worcester Art Museum Worcester, MA / worcesterart.org
issuu.com/worcesterartmuseum/docs/cyanotypescatalog-final_8da31e82a4a86e
Cyanotype toning:
All the links below concern tinting, toning and staining cyanotypes, I find it useful to research what different people have experienced and learn from their experiments before embarking on my own.
https://www.alternativephotography.com/multi-colored-cyanotypes/
https://www.lomography.com/magazine/315081-tipster-tinting-and-staining-cyanotypes
The Art of Black & White Photography - John Garrett
This book is a seminal and comprehensive guide to monochrome photography, it has rekindled my interest and set me new challenges:
Garrett, John, and Mitchell Beasley. The Art of Black & White Photography. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 2003.
Eadweard Muybridge
Essential locomotion!
Brookman, Philip. Eadweard Muybridge. Tate, 2010.
First Exposures
The beginnings
First Exposures Writings from the Beginning of Photography. Getty Trust Publications, 2017.
Slightly out of Focus - Robert Capa
This great little book is an amazing account of Capa's adventures, peppered with a collection of his iconic photographs.
"Capa's work is itself the picture of a great heart and an overwhelming compassion... He could photograph motion and gaiety and heartbreak. He could photograph thought. He captured the world." John Steinbeck
Capa, Robert. Slightly out of Focus. Modern Library, 2001.
The Massive Dev Chart - website
What would i do without you! Essential darkroom reference.
www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php
The Pinhole Camera - Brian J. Krummel
Extremely useful and practical book packed with ideas and references, a brilliant starting point!
Krummel, Brian J. The Pinhole Camera: a Practical How-to Book for Making Pinhole Cameras and Images. Printed by CreateSpace, 2009.
Poetics of Light
Utterly mesmerizing!
Renner, Eric. Poetics of Light: Contemporary Pinhole Photography: Selections from the Pinhole Resource Collection. Museum of New Mexico Press, 2014.
Mr Pinhole - website
A great resource for pinhole camera design and calculations.
Jake and Dinos Chapman
Questionable fun with toy soldiers - "Hell"
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jun/16/jake-and-dinos-chapman-how-we-made-hell
Colour
To help improve my understanding and use of colour I completed this course. The image of the lemon and flower to the lower left is the penultimate exercise I completed.
I was also able to work out some of my own colour preferences.
There are many excellent quotes throughout the book, below are just two that I picked out:
Jane Eyre, teaching her young charge, Adele to draw: “remember, the shadows are as important as the light“. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre 1846
“in the symbolism, the purity of a colour corresponds to its symbolic purity: the primary colours to primary emotions, and secondary and mixed colours to symbolic complexity.” Verity, colour observed
Edwards, Betty. Color: a Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors. Hodder, 2005.
Kyffin Williams
While researching William's drawing style and texture, I noticed that most of my colour preferences are reflected in his painting and maybe this is also why I enjoy his work so much.
Williams, Kyffin. The Land & the Sea. Gwasg Gomer, 2004.
Auerbach
It is the texture that drew me in first, but I have also become aware of Auerbach's compositional structures especially in his landscapes and abstract work.
Lampert, Catherine, et al. Frank Auerbach: Paintings and Drawings, 1954-2001. Royal Academy of Arts, 2001.
To the Studios
Frank Auerbach's son Jake, explores his fathers practice.
Auerbach, Jake, director. To the Studios. Demand Media, 1991.
Gerhard Richter: Painting after All
From the 'excavation of memory' to abstract painting
Wagstaff, Sheena, et al. Gerhard Richter: Painting after All. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2020.
Gerard Richter
The artist at home, reflecting between exhibitions.
Fox, Gerald, director. Season Art Documentary, episode Gerhard Richter, 2003.
Mixed Media
A very useful guide for gathering information, drawing and painting in various media. This really helped me remember things I have learnt and continue to develop practical visual language.
Forsey, Christopher. Mixed Media Landscapes and Seascapes. Batsford, 2020.