Pictorialism and naturalistic photography: Similarities and differences in approaches to photography in the second half of the 19th century

This presentation is focused on comparison of two influential photographic trends of the second half and the end of the 19th century – pictorialism and naturalistic photography and their theoretical reflection in the work of representatives of both of them – Henry P. Robinson and Peter H Emerson. Both approaches defend the artistic status of photography, but each in a different way. While the first one mentioned strives to make photography look similar to fine art, the second one, on the contrary, tries to make it different from fine art as much as possible. The aim of the lecture is to present and compare the theoretical approaches and work of both mentioned authors in the context of the ongoing discussion about the legitimacy of artistic photography. The mentioned approaches, as different as they are in their concept, are identical in their intention – they both strive to establish photography as an art form.