A Review of the Use of Photo Mixed Media in the U.S.A.

Abstract

1. Already in the mid-1800s a controversy arose between those who made untouched photographs and those who manipulated the medium to add artistic characteristics. In the 1890s the latter advocated adding painterly, mainly impressionistic approaches; the former believed the medium to be best suited to record reality. Later, the dadaists and surrealists made use of collages incorporating both types of photographs, and the practice was continued as late as the 1950s, particularly by those who were members of the German Subjective Fotographic Group. Realistic, painterly and collage approaches result in pictures without an illusion of depth. Dissatisfied with the limited scope presented by these approaches, a number of artists widely scattered over the U.S.A. are currently bent on extending photography in diverse ways to include 3dimensional works. These artists, approximately called photo mixed media artists, tend to have had professional training and experience in painting and sculpture rather than in photography. However, identification of them as a group has been made possible by a number of significant recent exhibitions in which distinct categories of tech