Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/09/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>>>>> "The taste for quotations (and for the juxtaposition of incongruous quotations) is a Surrealist taste." Unfortunately it does little to increase knowledge or understanding. Cheers, Bob <<<<< Of course, photography was first made interesting by the surrealists - and I don't mean Man Ray, but rather HC-B and his friends. The decisive moment is when quotidian reality quotes itself. By now we're all Surrealists, there's nothing innovative about putting the umbrella next to the ironing board or booby-trapping a child's toy with plastic explosive. Lasers in the jungle? Everyday karma. So it is that Nachtwey and Calvin Klein inhabit the same photo spread and the latter pays a premium to get that space. The taste for aphorisms is a nineteenth century taste, which begat the Surrealists, and modern photography. Walker Evans (a disciple of Flaubert and Balzac) fought against it with scant success and his pictures look pretty slow-moving today. As for knowledge and understanding - 18th century stuff! Rob. Robert Appleby V. Bellentani 36 41100 MO Italy tel. (+39) 059 303436 mob. (+39) 0348 336 7990