SQUARING THE CIRCLES OF CONFUSION: NEO PICTORIALISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY, ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY GALLERY, BRISTOL

9 September - 6 November 2022

Pictorialism was photography’s dominant art form from the mid 19th Century until the early 20th Century. It focused on the beauty of subject matter, the perfection of composition and the photographer as artist, in contrast to photography as a scientific or documentary medium.

 

Neo-Pictorialism has an emphasis on the aesthetic and embraces the other-worldly. It is a direct and positive reaction to the digital age and new technologies.  Photoshop, scanners and printers all greatly assist in the creation of the digital negative, enabling 21st Century photographers and artists to make traditional photographic prints using historic process and technique.  

 

This new exhibition, curated by Zelda Cheatle, celebrates the work of artists Takashi Arai, Susan Derges, David George, Joy Gregory, Tom Hunter, Ian Phillips McLaren, Celine Bodin and Spencer Rowell who each bring a pictorialist approach, through aesthetics or process to their contemporary work, addressing important issues and encouraging the beauty of the photographic image.

 

For further details please visit RPS Website 

 

8 September 2022