The question is: "Why can photography be called a ‘folk art’ as opposed to a ‘fine art’ "?
I’m a little confused because folk art is art iconic to an indigenous culture but photography is part of the entire Western world.
I think there are arguements for both but the question is asking for the arguement for ‘folk’.
folk art:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_art
Photography can be both and more. I think people may view it as more democratic and a ‘friendlier’ art then lets say painting or sculpture, which have become more and more academic. This has become more true since the advent of the smaller format cameras, Instamatic-cameras, brownies, range finders, point and shots, etc. Credit has often been given to W. Eugene Smith, not for this particular trend, but for making smaller formats more palatable by forcing Life Magazine to ‘allow’ him to use a 35mm slr camera back in the day. Up until that time professionals only used Large format equipment. I think this has something to do with it. Lay people would see professionals using smaller and less expensive equipment and be moved to photograph a lot more.
Other art forms also feel more intimidating then photography to most people. I think it’s a question of accessibility. As equipment got smaller, easier to use and more affordable people could quite easily pick up a camera and start to document. Think about it would be more likely to paint a portrait of someone or take their photo? What is easier to carry?
One Response to “Question for Photography assignement – folk or fine art?”
folk art:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_art
Photography can be both and more. I think people may view it as more democratic and a ‘friendlier’ art then lets say painting or sculpture, which have become more and more academic. This has become more true since the advent of the smaller format cameras, Instamatic-cameras, brownies, range finders, point and shots, etc. Credit has often been given to W. Eugene Smith, not for this particular trend, but for making smaller formats more palatable by forcing Life Magazine to ‘allow’ him to use a 35mm slr camera back in the day. Up until that time professionals only used Large format equipment. I think this has something to do with it. Lay people would see professionals using smaller and less expensive equipment and be moved to photograph a lot more.
Other art forms also feel more intimidating then photography to most people. I think it’s a question of accessibility. As equipment got smaller, easier to use and more affordable people could quite easily pick up a camera and start to document. Think about it would be more likely to paint a portrait of someone or take their photo? What is easier to carry?
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