The London Photographic Society was formed in 1853 and went on to become the Royal Photographic Society. At its first meeting Sir William Newton, a painter of miniatures and the Society’s Vice President, read a paper. In it, he discussed photography as an art form. I link to that here: https://archive.rps.org/archive/volume-1 If you’d like to read it go to page 5. But what’s struck me about this paper, this meeting and this society is that right from the very beginning the role of photography as an art form was intelligently and thoughtful discussed in a way that seems quite modern and also seems relevant today.
What I liked about Sir William’s paper is that he separates the mechanics of photography from its intent. He proposes that whether or not photography is an art is determined by whether or not it is made by an artist with that intention. He also proposes that the nature of the photograph; how the photo shaped with blur, softness, additions to the negative or the print, should be determined by the photographer/artist according to their taste.
The situation was of course different in those times, in that an experienced artist would not have been a photographic native, so to speak, but would have come up through other visual art forms such as painting and drawing and then adopted this new medium of photography as an extra arrow in the quiver.
Here’s how Sir William sums it up:
“In conclusion, I consider it to be a sort of duty, as an artist, to recommend the student in art not to take up the Camera as a means of advancement in his profession until he has made himself well acquainted with the true principles of his art, as well as acquired considerable power of hand, with a view to draw with ease and correctness the outline of any object he may wish to represent.
If, however, any student should imagine that the Camera will help him to this desirable attainment without the requisite study on his part, he will find himself much mistaken when, perhaps, it may be too late to repair the injury.” Ref: https://archive.rps.org/archive/volume-1
Too late to repair the injury!!!!! Eeek.