Influences of Art on Photography

Photography is influenced by a variety of mediums, one of these is art, or more specifically, paintings. One exhibition which took place covering this topic was 'Seduced by Art: Photography Past and Present' at The National Gallery from October 2012 to January 2013. The exhibition explored contemporary photographs, alongside historical paintings.

One example of the influence of painting on photography comes from Eugène Delacroix's painting named 'The Death of Sardanapalus' which is an oil painting on canvas dated 1827. The painting portrays the narrative of the Assyrian King who is supposed to be setting fire to his palace rather than surrender to the enemy.

This painting was compared with a photograph by Jeff Wall named 'The Destroyed Room' which is a cibachrome print dated 1978. Walls' photograph depicts destruction, like a painting, this photograph leaves you unable to focus on one main part of the image.

This comparison clearly acts as an example as to how paintings can be heavy influences on modern photography. Both of these pieces of art can be read in a similar way as they are both extremely busy but convey a similar message. However the modern differences can be clearly seen in Walls' photograph as it becomes more realistic than Delacroix's painting.

It can be concluded that a lot of modern photography is influenced and formed by paintings from the past. This could be justified as being because a lot of early photographers adopted the act of imitating paintings because they wanted to show that they were serious artists because photography was not seen as serious as other art forms.