THE CASE OF CRAIGIE HORSFIELD

• Authors: Hussakowska M.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The article presents the case of Craigie Horsfield - an artist of the middle generation (1949), Englishman, who spent over six years (1972-1979) in Poland, straightaway after his study (St. Martin's School, London 1967-1971), and whose photographs taken in Kraków in the 1970s two decades later are to be found in the most prestigious museums. The first, most important reason is an artistic value of his works created in various periods of his artistic life. Second motive are his far from routine mechanisms of a 'late' worldwide career, realised outside the photographic mainstream, and - last but not least - the artist's theoretical reflection on the Status of photographic representation and its social references. One of such references analysed in the present essay is an incorporation of photography into museum frames, with an active participation of art historians. A scientific training influenced a hierarchy that afflicts also modern photography which is also evaluated in the course of a dynamic debate of the current art. A description of the career of the artist in the domain of photography - though outside its main streams - was to emphasise the characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon System of visual arts and to reveal a significance of promotional critical infrastructure. The changes concern the functioning of the art within the institutionalised frames in reference to new expectations towards museum. Important in this process are also relations between institutions promoting social projects and the marked on which Horsfield depended. The last two parts of the article focus on two aspects of the Horsfield's photographs: photography as a 'medium' and photography identified with a 'picture'. The artist's attitude toward the medium is a complex one: it uses both historical 'novelties' of Talbot and digital photography, subjecting them to artistic representation. The analyses of a suggestive, saturated with the art of the old masters visual material are compared with the interpretations of the artist himself and critical reviews of his artistic creativity that goes beyond one medium.

Keywords

EN

ART HISTORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY; MODERN ART (AFTER 1945); PHOTOGRAPHY; VISUAL ARTS

Discipline

• ARTS_&_ARCHITECTURE: ARTS & ARCHITECTURE

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk
• Journal: Rocznik Historii Sztuki
• Year: 2007
• Volume: 32
• Pages: 209-230
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Hussakowska M.

• M. Hussakowska, Uniwersytet Jagiellonski, Instytut Historii Sztuki, ul. Grodzka 53, 30-001 Kraków, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

09PLAAAA056625