essay on art and photography

‘On Photography’ by Susan Sontag | Summary and Exploration

In the vibrant tapestry of human history, 1977 marked the birth of a masterpiece that forever altered our perception of photography. This was the year Susan Sontag, a luminary in the realm of critical thought, introduced us to her seminal work, “On Photography”. A collection of six essays, this book was not merely about the technicalities of photography, but rather, it delved into the philosophical underpinnings of this art form. It posed questions that continue to haunt us: What does photography truly capture? How do we discern a ‘good’ photograph? Can photography be equated with art? Sontag’s work, however, was not limited to posing these questions; it also offered profound insights into our relationship with images and how they shape our understanding of the world. Today, we invite you to embark on a journey through the pages of “On Photography”, a journey that promises to challenge your perceptions, provoke thought, and perhaps, even inspire a newfound appreciation for the art of photography.

For those of you who are pressed for time, fear not. This article offers a comprehensive summary of “On Photography”, distilling its profound insights into a succinct overview. It serves as a perfect starting point for those eager to delve into the world of Susan Sontag’s thought, but are constrained by the ticking clock.

The Genesis of a Masterpiece

Let’s take a trip back in time, to the year 1977. The world was a different place then, and amidst the hustle and bustle, a certain book was born that would forever change the way we perceive photography. This book was none other than “On Photography,” a collection of six essays penned by the brilliant Susan Sontag. Originally published in The New York Review of Books from 1973 onwards, these essays were a culmination of Sontag’s reflections on photography over several years.

Sontag, with her razor-sharp intellect and keen eye, delved into the very heart of photography, unearthing the aesthetic and moral dilemmas that lay at its core. She embarked on a journey through the annals of photographic history, taking us along for a ride through the great human, social, artistic, aesthetic, and technological adventure that photography represents. From the United States to Europe, she explored the creations of the great names that have left their mark on this medium: from Fox Talbot to Henri Cartier-Bresson , via Alfred Stieglitz , Diane Arbus, Eugène Atget , Edward Weston, and Nadar .

The Questions that Haunt Us

But what exactly does photography do? What does the photographer see on one side, and what does the viewer see on the other? According to what criteria is a “beautiful” or “good” photograph judged? Can such an activity be given the status of art? What does this image, which seems so easily substituted for reality, send back to us? These are the questions that have haunted photography for many decades, and it is thanks to Sontag’s detailed study that we find some answers.

Sontag’s approach to photographic realism, her reflections on the beauty and ugliness of subjects, contribute by their richness to further define this photographic question. And the influence of the image in our relationship with time will encourage us to take a different look at photography. Her work is a testament to the power of photography, not just as a medium for capturing reality, but also as a tool for understanding and interpreting the world around us.

The Legacy of “On Photography”

“On Photography” has had a profound influence on photographic thought. It has shaped the way we think about photography, and its impact can be felt even today. The book is a testament to Sontag’s genius and her ability to delve deep into complex issues and present them in a way that is both engaging and thought-provoking. It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the philosophical underpinnings of photography and its role in shaping our perception of reality.

In the end, “On Photography” is more than just a book about photography. It is a book about us, about our relationship with images, and about how we perceive and understand the world. It is a book that challenges us to think, to question, and to see the world in a new light. And for that, it will always hold a special place in the annals of photographic literature.

Comprehensive Summary of On Photography, by Susan Sontag

In Plato’s Cave : Picture this: you’re in a cave, and the only reality you know is the shadows dancing on the walls. This is the metaphor Sontag uses to explore the world of photography. She takes us on a philosophical journey, questioning the very nature of reality as captured through the lens. Photographs, she argues, are but mere shadows of the truth, capturing a single moment frozen in time, but devoid of the full context. It’s like looking at a snapshot of a dance, beautiful but lifeless, without the music and movement that give it meaning. Susan Sontag delves into the ethical labyrinth of photography. Can we trust the reality presented by a photograph, or is it a manipulated perception, a tool in the hands of those who wish to shape our view of the world? It’s a thought-provoking exploration that leaves us questioning the very nature of reality itself.
America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly : Imagine a kaleidoscope, each fragment a photograph, each turn a shift in perspective. This is how Sontag presents America through the lens of photography. She explores the power of photographs to both reveal and obscure the truth, creating a multifaceted image of the country that is as complex as it is contradictory. Susan Sontag takes us on a journey through the works of various photographers, each with their unique perspective, each adding a new layer to the image of America. It’s like peeling an onion, each layer revealing a new facet of the country, each tear a testament to the power of the image.
Melancholy Objects : Have you ever looked at an everyday object and seen something extraordinary? This is the magic of photography that Sontag explores in this chapter. She discusses how photographers, like alchemists, transform the mundane into gold, capturing the beauty in the most ordinary of objects. But there’s a melancholic undertone to this beauty. Each photograph is a frozen moment in time, a reminder of the transience of life. It’s like looking at a sunset, beautiful but tinged with sadness, a fleeting moment captured forever.
The Heroism of Vision : Imagine a world seen through the eyes of a hero, each moment an opportunity for greatness. This is the world of the photographer as presented by Sontag. She discusses the role of the photographer as a visionary, using their unique perspective to reveal the beauty hidden in plain sight. But this vision comes with its challenges. It’s a constant struggle to capture the essence of the world, to translate the complexity of reality into a single image. Yet, it’s this very struggle that makes the journey worthwhile, that transforms the photographer into a hero.
Photographic Evangels : Picture a world where photographs are not just images, but powerful tools for social and political commentary. This is the world Sontag explores in this chapter. She discusses how photography has become a medium for expressing dissent, for challenging the status quo, for shaping our understanding of the world. She takes us through the works of various photographers, each using their lens to shed light on the issues plaguing society. It’s like looking at the world through a magnifying glass, each photograph revealing a new problem, each problem a call to action.
The Image-World : Imagine a world saturated with images, each one vying for your attention. This is the world Sontag presents in this chapter. She explores the omnipresence of images in our daily lives, how they shape our perceptions, influence our behavior, and define our reality. She discusses the impact of photography on our relationship with the world, how it has transformed our understanding of reality. It’s like living in a hall of mirrors, each image a reflection of the world, each reflection a distortion of reality.
A Brief Anthology of Quotations (Homage to W.B.) : Picture a mosaic of quotations, each one a piece of the puzzle that is photography. This is what Sontag presents in this chapter. It’s a collection of thoughts, reflections, and insights on photography, each adding a new layer to the discussion. It’s like listening to a symphony, each note a quotation, each quotation a part of the larger melody. It’s a fitting conclusion to the book, a reflection on the themes and ideas discussed, a testament to the power and impact of photography.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

Art and photography: 1990s to the present.

Kolobrzeg, Poland

Rineke Dijkstra

Wolfgang Tillmans

Sand on Table

Gabriel Orozco

Sharon Lockhart

Tom Friedman

Doug Aitken

Gordon Tapper, 1:10

Karin Sander

The Quintet of Remembrance

Star Struck #3

Every Shot, Every Episode

Jennifer and Kevin McCoy

Douglas Eklund Department of Photographs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2004

For the 1991 Carnegie International, the painter Christopher Wool adapted one of his recent word paintings to a series of billboards seen around Pittsburgh that read: “The show is over. The audience get up to leave their seats. Time to collect their coats and go home. They turn around. No more coats and no more home.” The quotation—a chilling definition of nihilism by the Situationist writer Raoul Vaneigem—was a perfect epitaph for the just passed Reagan era, and captured the fractious tenor of the early 1990s. Much of the art, film, and music was gratifyingly messy in both form and message, provoking the viewer with uneasy truths about the unraveling social fabric. Seen in retrospect, Sue Williams’ scrawled, slashing paintings of sexual violence—part late de Kooning, part bathroom graffiti—and Cindy Sherman’s grotesque tableaux of medical supply dolls constituted a perfect backdrop to the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill controversy then playing out on Capitol Hill. With its shambling arrangements of cultural detritus, “scatter art” (now called “installation art”) was an aggressive assault on the pristine white cube of the gallery space—a visual analogue to the punk rock that exploded into national consciousness after a decade of subterranean existence.

As the decade mellowed under the lulling influence of the dot-com boom and the end of the Cold War, the art of the mid-1990s reflected both the newly global situation and the increasingly blurred line between the real and the virtual. Andreas Gursky’s spectacular large-scale photographs of frenzied stock markets, rock concerts, and designer shoe displays were like advertisements for the zeitgeist: digitally punched up, relentlessly exteriorized, and tailored for mass consumption. At the same time, however, Gabriel Orozco traveled the globe making fragile, economical sculpture and photographs from the humblest of cast-off materials—recycling the everyday into poetic objects that oscillated in the mind between reality and the imagination ( 1995.137.2 ). Tom Friedman’s work ( 1999.230 ) was, like that of Orozco, about work, but in a way far removed from the latter’s more casual, European sensibility—feats of endurance and obsessive making (with a heavy dose of showmanship and magic mixed in), from an exploding star form created from thousands of toothpicks to a sheet of paper stared at by the artist for 10,000 hours, in which useless skill and endless labor are pushed toward a bedazzled transcendence.

The “is-it-live-or-is-it-Memorex?” of contemporary existence as simultaneously lived and imagined was a hallmark of photography in the 1990s and an inevitable response to the penetration of the media into every corner of public space and private thought. Artists such as Cindy Sherman and Laurie Simmons, Jeff Wall and James Casebere became key figures in the new work of 1990s photographers such as Sharon Lockhart and Thomas Demand, whose images were epistemological exercises in how we experience memory, history, and identity through the sea of images into which we are born. The ultimate expression of this idea came in the ascendance of large-scale, immersive video installations by Doug Aitken ( 2004.223 ), Jane and Louise Wilson, Tacita Dean, and others who converted the white cube of the gallery space into the black box of the moviehouse or psychological experiment, theatricalizing the universal experience of technological and information overload upon an endlessly fractured, constantly regulated and diverted consciousness.

Eklund, Douglas. “Art and Photography: 1990s–present.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ap90/hd_ap90.htm (October 2004)

Additional Essays by Douglas Eklund

Eklund, Douglas. “ Photography in Düsseldorf .” (October 2004)
Eklund, Douglas. “ Photography in the Expanded Field: Painting, Performance, and the Neo-Avant-Garde .” (October 2004)
Eklund, Douglas. “ Conceptual Art and Photography .” (October 2004)
Eklund, Douglas. “ Art and Photography: The 1980s .” (October 2004)
Eklund, Douglas. “ The Pictures Generation .” (October 2004)
Eklund, Douglas. “ Body/Landscape: Photography and the Reconfiguration of the Sculptural Object .” (October 2004)

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Artist or Maker

Aitken, Doug
Casebere, James
De Kooning, Willem
Dijkstra, Rineke
Friedman, Tom
Gursky, Andreas
Lockhart, Sharon
McCoy, Jennifer
McCoy, Kevin
Milhazes, Beatriz
Orozco, Gabriel
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Simmons, Laurie
Tillmans, Wolfgang
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