Amber westmoreland

History of Photography

Julia Schlosser

Art 462

1/4/15

In Focus: Play and Nationality Doubtful

 at The Getty Museum

In Focus and Nationality Doubtful are two of many great exhibits currently on display at The

Getty. Each of them are made up of photographic art that different curators put together.

Curators are responsible for the museum's collection and decide how it will be displayed within

the space. They also help with marketing, fundraising, and write the catalog exhibitions. It is

often a curators job to deal with public relations in addition to mediating between the museum

and the artist.1 Both curators of the exhibits; Nationality Doubtful and In Focus did an excellent

job gathering and displaying the artists works at the shows.

1 Susan Kendzulka, What do Art Curators Do About Jobs,

http://fineart.about.com/od/Fine_Art_Curator_FAQs/f/What-does-an-art-curator-do.htm
 In Focus was put together by Arpad Kovacs; and Amanda Maddox curated Nationality

Doubtful.2 Both curators stuck to a traditional museum display method by placing the

photographs in black frames with white matting, left ample wall space, and created a neutral

color temperature with overhead lights. There are also subtle differences in the way each curator

choose to display the exhibit.

Arpad Kovacs chose to affix a large, framed photograph, beside an explanation of the In

Focus display, on the wall leading into the entrance of the small room displaying the exhibit. The

picture is captivating with interesting information; a successful way to gain the viewers interest.

The photographs are hung slightly below eye-level along walls. In the center of the room is a

wall with two images on each side. They are categorized chronologically. The subjects are at

first images of royalty, or upper class, and then lead to commoners. This reflects cameras

becoming simple enough for anyone to use, due to the advancement in camera technology such

as quicker shutter speed, faster stock, and smaller more portable cameras.3

Amanda Maddox had a much larger collection, and room to display photographs by artist

Josef Koudelka. The exhibit Nationality Doubtful, has two entrances and begin with the artist's

early photographs. It is sub-grouped into his early experimental stage, theater work, and

invasion photographs. A smaller room off to the left of the invasion section displays images of

2The J Paul Getty Museum" http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/focus_play/

3 Schlosser.Julia, History of Photography, class lecture, Art 452 from California State University
Northridge, Northridge CA. 2/15
people sub-grouped as Koudelka's study on gypsies. The main room leads into another section

by displaying his beginning work, using the panoramic camera, in a long narrow glass case that

stretches across the remaining portion of the room. At the end of this room are large images of

Koudelka's work printed with Jet-ink.4 This section is titled Chaos. These images continue into

another smaller room to the right. In addition there is yet another room to the left at the

beginning of his panoramic work categorized as exiles.5 At the start of each section the

category is painted on the wall with information about the group of work below it. If Amanda

Maddox had chosen to put all this information at the front of the entrance, like the In Focus

show, it would have been an overwhelming amount of information that discouraged viewers from

reading. The flow from category to category through out the room works well with the numerous

photographs.

Nationality Doubtful shows the life experiences of the artist Josef Koudelka.6 In 1968 the

Russians invaded Prague and Josef Koudelka took to the streets, climbed on tanks and

captured the chaos.7 Those pictures were reprinted around the world under an alias name and

4 IBID

5 Josef Koudeka Museum placard, the Getty Museum, Santa Monica, CA. 2/21/15

6 "Getty Museum Presents First U.S. Retrospective of Photographer Josef Koudelka, "The J
Paul Getty Museum" http://news.getty.edu/press-materials/press-releases/josef-koudelka.print

7 Koudeka Museum placard, Josef the Getty Museum, Santa Monica, CA. 2/21/15
later made him famous upon authorizing them under his real name.8 Later in his career he

photographed desolated wastelands from mining companies polluting their countries.9 His

intention was to capture images of the reality around him, without bias by means of remaining

an unemployed photographer. This freed him from being influenced by special interest of the

government or news agencies.10 He traveled Europe taking pictures of average every day

people in real life situations, often focusing on the negative parts of life.11 While his goal to stay

objective, unlike other photographers who intentionally used photography to sway views, has

kept his pictures more objective then others in his line of work, (such as Fenton who intentionally

depicted the war to be less devastating then reality) he still subjectifies his work through his

refined choice of subject matter.12 He further subjectifies his work by choosing what part of the

image to enlarge and publicize.13 Often in post work he finds a small moment inside of a large

8 IBID

9 IBID

10 "Getty Museum Presents First U.S. Retrospective of Photographer Josef Koudelka, "The J
Paul Getty Museum" http://news.getty.edu/press-materials/press-releases/josef-koudelka.print

11 Ibid

12 Schlosser.Julia, History of Photography, class lecture, Art 452 from California State
University Northridge, Northridge CA. 2/15

13 Josef Koudeka Museum placard, the Getty Museum, Santa Monica, CA. 2/21/15
frame that he zooms in on and focuses attention to.14 All of his photos are black and white

evoking melodramatic feelings of darkness and sadness. The photographs tell a story about

political walls, past and present, and how artist and activist have responded to them."15

The Chaos image at Czechoslovakia, near the radio Headquarters of three soldiers standing

on a tank, with smoke in the background, and a civilian displays Koudelka's general style

perfectly.16 Two of the soldiers are exiting out of the tank. At the center forefront of the image

stands the third soldier aiming a gun at an unarmed civilian who is holding his jacket open. The

remaining area around the figures looks barren and desolate.The men in the picture form a

triangle causing the viewers eye to move across the page; using the layout to create movement

throughout the composition is a skill Koudelka excels at.

This Image does not glorify the war, but rather brings attention to the spoils of war and the

innocent lives lost from it. The men in the image reference death rather than life because they

are prepared to kill or be killed. Even the singular living plant -which is far from the focus of the

photograph, represents destruction. It shows only the tips of the tree branches, the weakest part

of a tree that can be snapped off with the slightest pressure. As always Koudelka's photograph

is black and white, so the color of green leaves -which often represent life, has been omitted

14 IBID

15 "Getty Museum Presents First U.S. Retrospective of Photographer Josef Koudelka, "The J
Paul Getty Museum" http://news.getty.edu/press-materials/press-releases/josef-koudelka.print

16 Josef Koudeka Museum placard, the Getty Museum, Santa Monica, CA. 2/21/15
from this image. In addition the smoke is heaviest right over the tree, the very thing that helps to

produce oxygen is being smothered with smoke.

In focus has opposite emotions tied to the photographs and serves a completely different

purpose. It includes photographers Fenton, Fink, Arthur Fellig, Gyula Halasz, and many more.17

In Focus displays the last 175 years of people at leisure, and play captured by photography.18

The images date back this far because that's when the industrial revolution began creating more

free time among society; allowing for people to devote more time to leisurely activities.19 Perhaps

photographers started focusing on these activities because society had became emotionally

drained and tired of the devastation caused by the preceding wars, and hungered for positive

images. Capturing moments of recreation through the camera continues on a daily basis even

today.

One of my favorite photographs from the shows is Summer Lower East Side New York, taken

by Arthur Fellig, in 1937 and is a gelatin silver print.20 Coincidentally it is also the image Arthur

Fellig chose to display outside the entrance of In focus. Fellig captured children laughing and

17 http://news.getty.edu/press-materials/press-releases/josef-koudelka.print

18 "Arthur Fellig" Summer Lower East Side New York "Museum placard, the Getty Museum,

Santa Monica, CA. 2/21/15

19 Ibid
playing in the water from a high vantage point. The water is shooting out from a hydrant, and

there are nine kids of various ages happily cooling off from it in the street. The background

contains tall buildings unable to fit on the page, with adults walking down the sidewalk. The kids

are in the forefront of the image taking the viewer back to a simpler time, when it was common

for children play unsupervised in the street, and photographs were all monochromatic. The three

oldest kids are bravely standing the closest to the hydrant, arching and slouching their posture

from the water pressure, with big smiles on their faces. The four youngest children are happily

splashing through the puddles, and three girls stand behind them thoroughly drenched from the

water. A young boy stands at the far right of the image preparing to run temptingly closer to the

hydrant. The image has a single vantage point where the road and buildings disappear into the

background that create a diagonal line leading the viewers eye slightly up and across the image.

Summer Lower East Side New York, is very different than most of Aurther Fellig's

photographs because his subject matter was mainly of crimes and mayhem.21

" He used to set his camera to f/16 and 1/200th of a second, and a focal

distance of ten feet, and he always used a flash. He wasn't interested in style

or even whether the photograph was a good one or not. What he wanted was

20 Gyula Halasz, "The Kiss" (1953-37)Museum placard, the Getty Museum, Santa Monica, CA.
2/21/15

21 "Arthur Fellig, Better Known as the Photographer 'Weegee,'" Anne Darling Photography and
Digital Art. www.annedarlingphotography.com.
 to capture a moment in time, the moment where emotional impact was greatest" 22

Although Summer Lower East Side New York's subject matter varies from his traditional images,

his ability to capture the moment of action gives it the same stylistic feel of movement, and

emotion his other crude subject photographs have.

Summer Lower East Side New York, captures the nostalgia of the happy go lucky nature that

comes with being a child.The boy preparing to run closer to the fire hydrant reminds the viewer

of the childhood excitement of tempting fate that comes from the simple act of trying new things.

The kids who stand drenched in their clothes remind me of a time when I would get sopping wet

from water fights, careless that I was fully dressed. The joy of playing in the water as a child is

something that can resonate with every individual. Arthur Fellig could not have chosen a better

picture to display outside this exhibit which focuses on the act of play.

Unlike, Summer Lower East Side New York, The Kiss, taken by Gyula Halasz, between

1935-37, done in silver print, does not capture the playful innocence of childhood; but rather the

playful nature of young love.23 The Kiss is another image displayed at the In Focus exhibit, and

like Summer Lower East Side New York, it too evokes a sense of nostalgia. The Kiss images

romanticizes a young man and woman kissing, in a swinging, swan-boat, carnival ride at

midday. The photographer is standing at a low vantage point, and has probably photographed it

22 IBID

23 Gyula Halasz, "The Kiss" (1953-37)Museum placard, the Getty Museum, Santa Monica, CA.
2/21/15
at an angle that exaggerates the height of the swaying swing located in the upper right of the

image. The angle of the photograph sweeps the viewers eyes up diagonally across the page.

The unharnessed fair ride along with the monochromatic coloring reminds the viewer that this

image, like the photograph, Summer Lower East Side New York, is a far passed moment in time.

Images of the swans neck and kissing couple instantly brings the thought lovebirds to mind,

making the viewer recognize it is a moment of love rather than lust. The act of them kissing on a

swing and that they look fairly young resonates feelings of intimacy with anyone who has been a

young teenager, eager for a moment alone with their date. The danger of falling out of the swing

links to the rush of beginning to fall in love.

This artist often romanticized his pictures through means of capturing romantic lighting and

couples displaying affection to one another; however it is unusual that Halasz took the image

during the day because he preferred night scenes.24 Some of his photographs show women in

risqu garments which gave the images a feeling of flooding, rushed emotions, like in The

Kiss.25

The people in Summer Lower East Side New York, and The Kiss are unaware they are being

photographed making the images more objective then the usual photograph of people at an

24 "Icon Photography School PHOTOGRAPHY COURSES ONLINE"Brassai: About &

Photographs. https://photographyicon.com/brassai/

25 IBID
event who are posing and putting on an act of happiness for the camera. In addition neither of

the two images served as a purpose to record a major event, culture, consequence, or an

extended duration of time like the Photographs taken by Josef Koudelka. Not having such a

heavy weighted purpose in mind during the time of photographing, in addition to not being

augmented in post, these images are more objective than the photographs in Nationality

Doubtful.

All three of these images are monochromatic photographs. Each image creates movement

across the page by utilizing the objects to form a line for the eye to follow. Summer Lower East

Side New York, and The Kiss, invoke opposite feelings than the photograph taken by Josef

Koudelka. All of them however successfully make the viewer feel similar emotions to the people

portrayed in the pictures. I prefer the photographs displayed at the In Focus exhibit. However

there is no denying that Josef Koudelka is an equally talented and successful photographer as

Arpad Fellig and Gyula Halasz; especially when he is the first photographer whom's work has

filled a main room at the Getty.26 Despite what types of photographs are preferred, it is worth a

trip to the Getty to view the shows In Focus: Play, and Nationally Doubtful.

26 http://news.getty.edu/press-materials/press-releases/josef-koudelka.print
 Works Cited

1"Arthur Fellig" Summer Lower East Side New York Museum placard, the Getty Museum,

Santa Monica, CA. 2/21/15

2 "Arthur Fellig, Better Known as the Photographer 'Weegee,'" Anne Darling Photography and

Digital Art. www.annedarlingphotography.com.

3 "Getty Museum Presents First U.S. Retrospective of Photographer Josef Koudelka, "The J

Paul Getty Museum" http://news.getty.edu/press-materials/press-releases/josef-koudelka.print

4 Gyula Halasz, "The Kiss" (1953-37)Museum placard, the Getty Museum, Santa Monica, CA.

2/21/15

5"Icon Photography School PHOTOGRAPHY COURSES ONLINE"

Brassai: About & Photographs. https://photographyicon.com/brassai/

6"In Focus: Play December 23, 2014May 10, 2015, GETTY CENTER" The J Paul Getty

Museum" http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/focus_play/
7 Josef Koudeka Museum placard, the Getty Museum, Santa Monica, CA. 2/21/1

8 Schlosser.Julia, History of Photography, class lecture, Art 452 from California State University

Northridge, Northridge CA. 2/15

Susan Kendzulka, What do Art Curators Do About Jobs,

http://fineart.about.com/od/Fine_Art_Curator_FAQs/f/What-does-an-art-curator-do.htm