Working Paper: NBER ID: w15278
Authors: David Galenson
Abstract: A survey of textbooks reveals that scholars consider Alfred Stieglitz to have been the greatest photographer of the twentieth century, followed in order by Walker Evans, Cindy Sherman, Man Ray, and Eugène Atget. Stieglitz, Evans, and Atget were experimental artists, who were committed to realism, whereas Man Ray and Sherman were conceptual innovators, who constructed images to express ideas. During much of the twentieth century, photography was dominated by the experimental approach and aesthetic of Stieglitz and his followers, but late in the century this changed; as photography grew increasingly central to advanced art in general, it came to be dominated by conceptual innovators. Sherman's celebrated creation of artificial scenes is characteristic of the almost exclusively conceptual uses that today's advanced artists make of its techniques and images, as technical and aesthetic considerations are generally subordinated to conceptual concerns.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: Z1; Z11
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| experimental approach (C99) | later significant work (Y50) |
| conceptual approach (B50) | earlier significant work (Y50) |
| experimental artists (Z11) | significant works after age 40 (A39) |
| conceptual artists (Z11) | significant works earlier in career (A39) |
| artistic approach (Z11) | timing of contributions (D64) |
| shift from experimental to conceptual (C90) | evolution of photography (B15) |