b. 16 October 1890; d. 31 March 1976
Paul Strand was an American who was taught photography by one of his school teachers, Lewis Hine, and who became a successful photographer. He was greatly influenced by the Photo-Secession group, and made some superb abstract close-up pictures.
Initially he did some experimental work in the medium, but then moved over to what we know as straight photography - work which relied totally upon subject, viewpoint and choice of lighting, rather than upon any manipulation at either the negative or the printing stage.
Some of his work appeared in the last two editions of Camera Work (1916-17). In what turned out to be the last edition, Alfred Stieglitz described Strand's work:
"His work is rooted in the best tradition of photography. His vision is potential. His work is pure. It is direct. It does not rely upon tricks of process. In whatever he does there is applied intelligence. In the history of photography there are but few photographers who, from the point of view of expression, have really done much work of any importance. And by importance we mean work that has some relatively lasting quality, that element which gives all art its real significance... The work is brutally direct. Devoid of any flim-flams; devoid of trickery and any 'ism', devoid of any attempt to mystify an ignorant public...."
In this edition are "Blind" and "The Fence." Both are well- known, the latter clearly ignoring the conventional rules of perspective.
Strand himself wrote: "Objectivity is of the very essence of photography, its contribution and at the same time its limitation..." "Honesty no less than intensity of vision is the prerequisite of a living expression. This means a real respect for the thing in front of... the photographer... this is accomplished without tricks of process or manipulation through the use of straight photographic methods..."
Strand's images were contact prints, many from 10" by 8" negatives.
© Robert Leggat, 1999.