THE SOFT-FOCUS LENS AND ANGLO-AMERICAN PICTORIALISM

366 Pages·2008·12.1 MB·English

THE SOFT-FOCUS LENS AND ANGLO-AMERICAN
PICTORIALISM
William Russell Young, III
A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD
at the
University of St. Andrews
2008
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The Soft-Focus Lens
and Anglo-American Pictorialism
William Russell Young, III
B.S.B.A., M.B.A., M.A.
Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for
Doctor of Philosophy
April 30, 2007
Declarations
(i) I,William Russell Young, III, herebycertifythat this thesis, whichis approximately
90,000words inlength,has beenwrittenbyme,that it is therecordof work carriedout
byme andthat it has beenwrittenbyme andthat it has not beensubmittedinany
previous applicationfor ahigherdegree.
April 30,2007 ______________________________
WilliamRussell Young,III
(ii) Iwas admittedas aresearchstudent in January,2001,andas a candidateforthe
degreeofDoctor ofPhilosophyinArt History; the higherstudyforwhichthis is arecord
was carriedout intheUniversityofSt.Andrews between2001 and2007.
April 30,2007 _______________________________
WilliamRussell Young, III
(iii) Iherebycertifythat thecandidatehas fulfilled theconditions oftheResolutionand
Regulations appropriateforthedegreeofDoctorofPhilosophyinthe UniversityofSt.
Andrews andthat thecandidateis qualifiedtosubmit this thesis Iapplicationforthat
degree.
April 30,2007 ________________________________
Thomas Normand,Ph.D.
i
Acknowledgements
Theauthorwishes to gratefullyacknowledgevarious forms anddegrees of contribution
from thefollowingindividuals andinstitutions, without whichthis thesis wouldbe
diminishedinquality. Isincerelyapologizefor anyinadvertent omissions.
Scholars, M. SusanBarger,PhD,Robert Bretz,William Crawford,RoyFlukinger,
PamelaRoberts, Richard Rudisill,PhD,PeterStubbs, Paul VanWalree,MikeWare,
PhD.; Archivists and Librarians, GeorgeEastman House,BeckySimmons, MikeYates,
ToddGustavson, David Wooters, JaniceMadhu; OhioUniversityArchives staff; Harry
RansomHumanities ResearchCenter, Universityof Texas,BarbaraBrown, EricBeggs;
Perry-CastanedaLibrary,Universityof Texas; National Libraryof Scotland;, Marion
Center Newhall Library,Collegeof SantaFe,Allison Colborne; New MexicoState
Library,SusanneCaro; Whistler Centre,Glasgow University,Nigel Thorpe,PhD;
PhotographicArchives, Stateof New Mexico,ArthurOlivas (retired); Photographers,
PatrickAlt,JohnBarnier,EdDams, Prof.Phil Davis,† Peter&AaseGoldsmith,Konrad
Gotz,† RoyHungerford, ARPS,TerryKing, FRPS,KerikKouklis, Charles Lewis, David
Lewis, CharlieManion†,SeanMcKenna,Robert Nugent,MarkOsterman, Charles
Palmer,MD,James Pitts,EricRenner,TedRice, III, RoyRobertson, FRPS,Robert
Shlaer,PhD,Al Starkweather,Sr.,DonaldStewart,PhD,ARPS;Photographic
Equipment Dealers, Jim Andrachi (Midwest PhotographicExchange), NickArgyros,
SethBroder(Cameraeccentric),Chris Davies, Charles Duckworth,FredNewman &
Dennis Kibbe,(TheViewCameraStore),JayTepper; Camera Designers, KevinFinney,
Jim Galvin†,Kurt Mottweiler; BookDealers, Leo’s Art Books,Fred &ElizabethPajerski
Booksellers, Photo-Eye Books; Others, Barbara Robertson, Albert Starkweather,Jr.,Dr.
Dwight Thibodeaux,andmyenduringgratitudeto Tom Normand,Ph.D.
ii
Abstract
Thehistory,practiceand aestheticofthesoft focus lens inphotographyis
elucidatedanddeveloped from its earliest statements ofneedtothecurrent timewitha
particular emphasis onits roleinthedevelopment ofthePictorialist movement.Using
WilliamCrawford’s concept ofphotographic‘syntax,’theuseofthesoft focus lens is
exploredas anexampleofhowtechnologyshapes style.
Adetailedstudyofthesoft focus lenses from the earliest forms tothepresent is
presented, enumeratingthecoreproperties ofpinhole,earlyexperimental andcommercial
soft focus lenses. This was researchedviapublishedtexts inperiodjournals, advertising,
privatecorrespondence,interviews, andthelenses themselves. Theauthor conducteda
widerangeofin-studioexperiments withbothperiodandcontemporarysoft focus lenses
toevaluatetheir characteranddistinct features, as well as tovalidatesource material.
Nodal points ofthis historyanddevelopment are exploredinthecritical debate
betweenthediffuseandsharpphotographicimage,beginningwiththecompetition
betweenthe calotypeand daguerreotype.The role ofGeorgeDavison’s The Old
Farmstead is presented as well as theinventionof thefirst modernsoft focus lens, the
Dallmeyer-Bergheim, and its functioninthedevelopment ofthepopularPictorialist lens,
thePinkham &Smith Semi-Achromatic.Thetrajectoryofthesoft focus lens is plotted
against thePictorialist movement,notingthe correlationbetwixt them,andthemodern
renaissanceofsoft focus lenses andthediffuseaesthetic.
This thesis presents and uniquehistoryofphotographymodeledaroundthe
determiningcharacterof technologyandtheinterdependencyofsyntax,styleandart.
iii
Illustrations
1.1 D.W.Wynfield FieldTalfourd
1.2 Cutawaydiagram ofthe Petzval design
1.3 Cutawaydiagram ofthe DallmeyerRapidRectilineardesign
1.4 Illustrationofincreasedcoveragebytheconeoflight…
1.5 JuliaMargaret Cameron MagdaleneBrookfield
1.6 JuliaMargaret Cameron TheTwilight Hour
2.1 TwostaidAmerican cabinet cards
2.2 Celine LaguardeProfileSanguine gum bichromateportrait
3.1 HenryHerbert LaThangueAnAutumnMorning
3.2 SirGeorgeClausen HoeingTurnips
3.3 FrankMeadowSutcliffe FetchingintheLine
4.1 ConfigurationoftheDallmeyerRapid Landscape design
4.2 Dallmeyer-Bergheimlens, final typedesign
4.3 Cutawaydiagram ofthe original Dallmeyer-Bergheimdesign
4.4 Direct scanof F.Holland Day’s letterto Frederick Evans
4.5 Alvin LangdonCoburn HenrySmith
4.6 GrubbAplanat designof 1857
4.7 KodakSoft Focus Lens circa1950
4.8 Circa1900 Landscape Lens
4.9 Pinkham &Smith Semi-AchromaticSeries INo. 3
4.10 Thefirst Pinkham &Smithadvertisement
5.1 Positivelenses
5.2 Spherical Aberration
5.3 Imageof apoint source whenspherical aberrationis present
5.4 Illustrationofspherical aberrationshowingthebandoffocus
5.5 Chromaticaberrationshowingdifferingfocus bycolor
5.6 Longitudinal chromaticaberration
5.7 Tworeflections ofthesamelight source…
5.8 Anelaborateandundoubtedlyhighlyefficient rectangular…
5.9 Gundlach Achromatic Meniscus 6inchf/6
5.10 Fujinon SF250mm.f/5.6
5.11 Graphicdemonstrationofthedistinctionbetween thecircle…
5.12 Aset ofWaterhousestops
5.13 pinpoint light sources photographedslightlyout offocus
5.14 Alvin LangdonCoburn NotreDame
5.15 Gertrude KasebierTheLesson orThePictureBook
5.16 AlfredStieglitz HedwigStieglitz
5.17 Edouard Boubat notitle
5.18 HeinrichKühn untitled autochrome
iv
6.1 Spectral sensitivitycomparisons offilms
6.2 KodakPortrait Lens cementedachromat
6.3 Veritar (andVerito)diagram
6.4 TinaModotti Edward Weston
6.5 Diagram ofthe earliest versionoftheDallmeyer-Bergheim lens
6.6 Cutawaydiagram ofthe Adjustable Landscapelens ofPulligny&Puyo
6.7 Engravedscaleof focus correctiononan Objectif Anachromatique
6.8 BuschPerscheid symmetricsoft focus lens
6.9 Perforateddiaphragm from an Imagonlens
6.10 Illustrationoffunctionof theImagonperforateddiaphragm
6.11 Cutawaydiagram oftheImagon lens
6.12 Anearlyadvertisement forthemonorail cameradevisedbyKühn
6.13 Dr.Adalbert DefnerPortrait of HeinrichKühn
6.14 An8x10Burke&James Rembrandt Master Pictorialist portrait camera
6.15 Russ YoungGlenAultman
6.16 Twolargeformat cameras showingtherapidevolution
6.17 HeinrichKühn untitledportrait of AlfredStieglitz
6.18 SilhouetteofAlfredStieglitz holdingaGraflex camera
6.19 Folmer &Schwingfocal planeshutter
6.20 Agfa-Ansco5x7 viewcamera
6.21 JohnPaul Edwards untitled
6.22 JohnPaul Edwards untitled detail
6.23 Ernest Kneeuntitledportrait of Edward Weston
6.24 Ansel Adams portraits withwideandnormal lenses
6.25 4x5groundglass image
6.26 DiagrammaticexplanationoffocusingtheImagon
6.27 Diagrammaticexplanationofthesoft focus lens andfocus
6.28 Thespectral sensitivityofordinaryfilm (“P”)and thehumaneye
6.29 DallmeyerSoft Focus Six Inchlens
6.30 George H.SeeleyTheBurningof Rome
6.31 Ansel Adams Lodgepole Pines
6.32 MargretheMather (?)untitled EdwardWestonwithGrafVariable
6.33 E.H.Weston untitled portrait
6.34 EdwardHenryWeston Toxophilus
6.35 F.HollandDayTheStormGod
6.36 A1902risquélyworded advertisement forprintingpaper
7.1 Alvin LangdonCoburn Weir’s Close
7.2 Alvin LangdonCoburn Clouds intheGrand Canyon
7.3 E.H.Weston View fromMt. Wilson
7.4 J.P.Edwards Portrait ofanArtist
7.5 Illustrationfrom CaliforniatheBeautiful
7.6 Apagefrom TheOldSpanish Missions of California
7.7 ImogenCunningham MargretheMather andEdward Weston
7.8 William E.DassonvilleBoat Rail andReflections
v
7.9 Ansel Adams EagleDance,SanIldefonso Pueblo New Mexico
7.10 William Mortensen JohantheMad
7.11 Fourrepresentatives ofthenumerous photographicmagazines
7.12 HugoHennebergPommeranianMotif
7.13 HugoHennebergRow of Poplars
7.14 Modern‘flou-net’manufacturedbyBronica
7.15 Shadows producedbythepatternof anEastman DiffusionDisk
7.16 1928 Leicaadvertisement forthe‘cameraofthefuture”
7.17 FrankR.Nivison, AConcert intheNursery
7.18 L.H. Longwell TheCigarette
vi
Table of Contents
Declarations i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
List of Illustrations iv
Chapter1: Syntax andSolutions 1
Chapter2: NewSyntaxes, NewHorizons 42
Chapter3: NaturalisticPhotography 69
Chapter4: Development oftheSoft Focus Lens 96
Chapter5: Principles oftheSoft Focus Lens 133
Chapter6: Soft Focus Lens Practice 174
Chapter7: TheDemiseoftheSoft Focus Lens inParticularand
Pictorialism moreGenerally 251
Conclusions 321
Appendix A: Soft Focus InnovationTime Line 337
Appendix B: Photographers byYearof Birth 342
Appendix C: Photographers andtheir Lenses 345
Bibliography 347
vii
Chapter 1:
Syntax & Solutions
Iwas not lookingat it [photography] solelyfrom theusual vantagepoint oftheart historian-
from above,as it were,predominantlyinvisual orformalisticterms-but equallyfrom below,
from thepoint ofviewoftheevolvingtechnologythat hadmadephotographypossible.1
William Crawford (1978)
The Syntax of Photography
William M. Ivins (1881-1961)first elucidatedtheconcept ofsyntax in1953,2 notingthe
importanceofhowtheimageofaprint was constructedbyvarious systems oflines.
Moreover,Ivins statedthat foragivenprocess ofprintmaking,themethodonlyallowed
specificfamilies oftones tobecreatedfrom thoselines. Althoughhis maininterest was in
printmakingandcommunications, hedoes also touchonphotography.
Hewas not as well versedintheissues ofphotographyas hewas inprintmaking
(thirtyyears as curatorofprints at theMetropolitanMuseum certainlyqualifiedhim tomake
studiedstatements onprintmaking)andmadebotherrors ofomissionandfact.As faras Ivins
was concerned,photographyhadnosyntax.PhotohistorianWilliam Crawford(1948-current )
arguedthat iftheappearanceofadaguerreotypewas so radicallydifferent from aplatinum
print,thenphotographymust havesyntax.Heconvincinglysets forththestatement that “the
photographercanonlydowhat thetechnologyavailableat thetimepermits him todo.”3
Specifically,Crawforddefines photographicsyntax as technology. “It is whatever
combinationis inuse.Thecombinationdetermines howwell thetechnologycanseeandthus
1 WilliamCrawfordKeepersofLight(DobbsFerry,NY:Morgan&Morgan,1979)unpaginated“Introduction.”
2WilliamM.IvinsPrintsandVisualCommunications(London:RoutledgeandKegan,Paul,Ltd.,1953).
3Crawford1979,p.6.
1