摘要: | 自攝影發明以來,即和紀實的功能相連繫,然而在十九世紀中葉興起的畫意派攝影,運用柔焦與手作的技術,柔化或模糊相片的客觀性,並將藝術的表現題材融入攝影中。波士頓攝影家Fred Holland Day(1864-1933)善用這些攝影技巧,創作色調豐富的攝影作品,致力於探索攝影與繪畫的關係。就攝影史書寫的角度而觀,他的成就或許不比同時期的Alfred Stieglitz(1864-1946),且其攝影在二十世紀往往被納入性別研究的脈絡討論,關注在攝影家的同性情感表現。本文選擇Day以男性身體為主題的攝影作品,透過比較分析的方式,探討其攝影如何與繪畫的形式美感產生關聯。Day藉由經營出版事業而接觸到當時的文學和藝術家,並發展他獨特的攝影美學。他選擇男性身體為拍攝對象,一方面與資助弱勢和移民青年有關;另一方面則企圖在攝影與繪畫之間找尋題材或內容的共通性。Day運用扮裝的方式再現宗教或神話人物,包括基督、Hypnos、Saint Sebastian和Orpheus,這些人物同時也是象徵主義藝術表現的理想對象。
本文第一章關注Day的生平與學習經歷,包括他和攝影團體的關係,以及藉由舉辦展覽使攝影與藝術接軌。以早期的攝影作品為例,探討Day的攝影理念與作品的對應關係,分析他再現性別的特殊考量,以及與其他畫意攝影家的風格差異。第二章集中探討Day的宗教系列攝影,分別再現基督與Sebastian的形象,以自身和青年為主角,試圖證明攝影再現宗教藝術的潛力,創作出不同於科學相片的攝影作品。第三章鎖定Day在創作後期的攝影表現,以自然為背景,將青年扮裝為神話人物如Orpheus,抹除他們的社會階級和身分,把扮裝當作一種為藝術而藝術的行徑,而非作為社會改革的途徑。扮裝成為Day的攝影表現方式,且不論是何種人物形象,男性身體於其作品中的發展與演變,形成攝影家的個人風格。此番探究身體表現的可能性,提升藝術家的主體地位,也啟發當代藝術的創作。;Since photography was invented, it has been related with recording Nature. However, the Pictorialists used hand-crafted techniques and soft-focus lenses to offset the objectivity of pictures. They also introduced some artistic subjects into their works. These photographic skills were put to good use by American photographer Fred Holland Day (1864-1933), and his pictures are rich in black-and-white tones. Day strove to explore the relationships between photography and painting. When it comes to the history of photography, Day’s artistic achievement may not be superior to his competitor Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946). His works have been examined in the context of gender study since the twentieth-century, focusing on his homosexual sentiment. This thesis concentrates on the imagery of the male body in Day’s works, and investigates the bonds between his photography and the formal elements of paintings by means of comparative analysis. As a publisher, Day has an opportunity to be associated with the writers and artists in his time. Their thoughts and works benefit the development of his photographic aesthetics. On the one hand, Day chose the male body as a subject, as it related to his philanthropic career; on the other hand, he tried to find some similarities between photography and painting. Day represented religious or mythical figures by dressing up as Christ, Hypnos, Saint Sebastian and Orpheus. Meanwhile, these figures were the ideal subjects among Symbolist artists.
In the first chapter, I trace Day’s life and artistic formation; it involves his relations to Pictorialism and the Lincked Ring Brotherhood. Focused on Day’s early pictures, I discuss the connection between his photographic ideas and works. I also analyze his unique ways to represent the issue of sexuality, and the stylistic differences between his photographs and those of other pictorialists. In chapter two, I stress on Day’s series of sacred subjects. He played Christ and cast the youth as Sebastian, trying to prove that photography can represent sacred art. His strategies differ from the scientific pictures at that time. The third chapter pays attention to Day’s works after 1904; these pictures were mostly taken in the natural surroundings. The youths were dressed up like mythical figures such as Orpheus, freeing themselves from their social class or identity. Performance was a means to prove the idea of art for art’s sake, rather than as a way for social reform. Searching for the expressive possibilities in the realm of male body, Day’s art manifests a photographer’s subjectivity. His legacy also inspires contemporary artists nowadays. |