The Development of Chinese Pictorialism and Its Implications for Contemporary Photography
Keywords:
Chinese Pictorialism, New Pictorialism, Pictorialism, Contemporary Photography, Commercial Photography, Photography AestheticsAbstract
Against the backdrop of the rapid development of contemporary photography, pictorialism still holds a significant share in the Chinese photography market. This article reviews the development trajectory of pictorialism and conducts a textual analysis of classic pictorialism artworks to explore the new pictorialism ideas in China. At the same time, it uses the method of comparison, this study focuses on the development of pictorialism as the research subject, conducting a comparative survey of contemporary Chinese photography, particularly commercial photography. It identifies the issues in contemporary Chinese photography—namely, the mutual constraints between the aesthetic level of mass photography and commercial photography, as well as the singularity of commercial photography. Based on the exploratory process of pictorialism's development, it proposes suggestions for addressing the problems in contemporary Chinese photography.
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