Garry Winogrand Perspective

Garry Winogrand

            Garry Winogrand was a street photographer who portrayed social issues and the role media played in shaping attitudes in American during the mid-20^th century. He was born Janurary 14, 1928 in New York City and died March 19^th, 1984 in Tijuana Mexico. Winogrand’s purpose, basically, was to really show how America looked through his eyes. Many of his photographs are action shots, full of energy. All are full of emotion and character. He is a well respected photographer for all of these reasons.

GALLERY

                                         El Morocco, 1955

New York City, 1968

Histrionics on a Bench, 1975

Women are Beautiful, 1981

Los Angeles, 1969



CRITIQUES

El Morocco, 1955

1. The foreground/middle ground is taken up mostly of the woman and the man she is dancing with. The background is mostly dark, if you look close enough there are people dancing as well.
2. The focal point is the woman’s face. Everything else is slightly blurred.
3. The light source is straight on. Looks like a flash in a dark room right onto her face.
4. The woman’s face in the picture shows smooth texture, representing the soft skin of a woman. Although her features are shadowed with a lot of contrast, making the details on the face because texture.
5. The focal point is the woman’s face. Winogrand made everything else dark and circle around her face in order to draw attention to her face, excluding details of anyone else.
6. The photo is in black and white. If the picture was in color, the focus would be taken off of her face a little, so black and white is better.
7. Her face is in sharp focus.
8. The angle is straight on, direct, invasive, yet choreographed looking.
9. The mood captured seems to be the inner animal of woman, vicious and brutal.
10. The most important thing to the artist was capturing the true emotion through the facial expression of the woman dancing with the man.
11. The artwork is portraying the emotion of a woman.
12. The artwork reminds me of 50’s fashion and glam, and what it does to a woman.
13. The artwork is very unique and different. It is fearless and invasive, but must be to really capture the moment.
14. I actually love this photograph and would definitely hang it in my home. It really does capture the emotion of a woman, I agree with Winogrand. Women do have an inner animal, especially when with men.

5.) b. How does the photograph make you feel?

The photograph makes me feel humored. It’s funny and enjoyable to look at. I like how it makes a woman look because I agree we have an inner animal. It has great meaning and emotion.

d. If you could ask the artist a question about the photograph, what would it be?

I would ask the artist if he told the woman to make a face like that, or how it came about for her to just up and make that face. How funny.

New York City, 1968

1. There isn’t really a foreground in the photograph, the middle is the laughing woman, and the background is a shop window and a slither of a café.
2. The focal point is the woman.
3. The light source is the sun, coming from the sky.
4. The window shows a shiny, smooth texture. The woman’s body and face show texture of a woman.
5. The center of interest is the woman and her laughing expression. The Winogrand included her surrounding to give a sense of materialism, and captured her expression to show happiness of the woman, he thought it was a beautiful moment most likely.
6. This photo is in black and white. If it were in color it would take away the simplicity and glowing of the laughing woman. The main focus is her movement and emotion, color is not needed to express that.
7. Everything is in sharp focus, mainly the woman.
8. The angle of view is straight on, I feel like I’m there apart of whatever she’s laughing at.
9. The mood is happy and cheerful because of the way he captures the exact moment she is belly laughing. It’s not a fake pose you can tell this is a real captured moment that he thought was beautiful.
10. The most important thing to Winogrand was capturing the woman at ultimate joy and laughter to show a woman’s smile and how he thinks it is unique and wonderful.
11. This artwork is basically just expressing a woman’s gentle yet intense happiness and laughter.
12. It reminds me of a Marilyn Monroe picture, where she is laughing and looks so graceful and beautiful without any effort.
13. The artwork is definitely unique in its own way, but not so quite original, there are plenty of pictures capturing a woman’s laughter, and it’s still a good photograph though.
14. I like it because of the joy I feel from it. The photograph is very moving, almost, like Winogrand was trying to put his viewer in a better mood just by looking at a happy person.

5.) a. What is happening in the photograph and what is going to happen next?

In this photograph a woman has been humored and is not holding back a laugh, she’s care free laughing with joy. What will happen next is she will probably continue laughing, and go on with whatever conversation she was having.

      c. If you could ask the artist a question about the photograph, what would that question be?

If I could ask a question, I would ask what was so funny that made her laugh with such happiness and joy.

Final Touches

          The type of audience I’m trying to attract to my gallery are older people, from the ages 18-50 basically, and women who enjoy fashion and glamour. The location would be in a big city, downtown vintage building, like in New York. “Sum of the Moments” would be the name I chose to describe my collection because it’s a pun, it represents moments captured in old time America from fashion and relationships to women and their emotion. The type of music I would play is calm; relaxing music I enjoy, like classical piano or grungy, indie bands. The lighting would be in between dim and bright, casting unique shadows at different angles in the room making a vintage, grungy look. Refreshments would be served, for example I would serve cups of pink lemonade or water with guacamole and cheese dips, samples of desserts, and crab cakes. This is all what comes to mind when I think about how my art gallery would be.