Technology's influence on art

Extract

[...] Photography cannot be entirely be considered to be responsible for Surrealism and Dali's soft watches, though it did influence the landscape of art and painting that Dali developed under. Another artist who attempted to capture images in ways that photography cannot was Pablo Picasso. As mentioned, the history of painting followed a linear path to where representation became more realistic. When photography claimed absolute realism in representation, many artists looked to old styles of painting to gather influence. Picasso turned to old tribal African artwork for inspiration. [...]

[...] Diane Arbus was one photographer that was interested in capturing the grotesque. The photograph perhaps one of her better known photographs, is what at first seems to be a simple picture of a boy. Upon inspection, what captures the viewer's attention is that it is unsettling. People are used to seeing smiling faces when they view photographs of other people. The grimace upon the boy's face forces people to consider why this boy might be unhappy. Furthermore, upon considering why the boy might be unhappy, it forces us to consider what makes us as people unhappy, and if any of those conditions are currently in effect. [...]

[...] centuries, but then photography came along and was able to not only create a realistic picture, but was able to recreate exactly within the scope of a lens. Of course, we know this did not render painting useless. Instead of making painting and other mediums anachronistic, the technological development of the photograph worked to push artists into new directions. While paintings used to function to attempt to capture reality and preserve it, painting needed to find someway else to function in order to remain relevant. [...]