Chiaroscuro in Contemporary Landscape Photography: Henson, Mekis, Fossati
by Manuel Oreste Suárez*
“Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter” Ansel Adams
Although orthodoxy designates art any product of human creativity or imagination which is primarily appreciated for its beauty and emotional power, the controversy over whether photography can indeed be considered art is almost as old as the invention of the photographic technique, as documented by Ralph Derechef in 1894.[1] Detailing aspects of the controversy in its current terms can be hardly superfluous. The tradition of juxtaposing light and darkness in western landscape dates to Rembrandt´ times. In his etching The Three Trees, deep darkness depicting land and trees is set side by side with fully lighted, clear skies, to achieve dramatic depth by interplay with peripheral elements in the composition.
The remarkable presence of chiaroscuro* as a representational technique can be noted as well in current trends of landscape and seascape photography. Perhaps this is a natural result of the use of advances in optical and digital-editing technologies. But the photographer´s eye may also be unveiling a collective demand for the plastic representation of emotions and insights priorly reserved for painting. Along this line, let´ s view some of the work being now produced by accomplished landscape photographers like Enrico Fossati (Italy), Robert Mekis (Czechia), and Bill Henson (Australia), and let´s explore the emotional drives behind some of their images.
A dominant source of light unexpectedly arising in the middle of a stormy sky -as in Fossati´ s Summer Storm above- is often found in landscape painters from the mid 19th century, typically from the American Hudson River School such as Albert Bierstadt or Thomas Cole, but also in non-Americans like the British J.M.W. Turner. Such light spells can symbolize the supernatural or the sublime and invoke hope or menace depending on the context.
In a more circumscribed view, and with stunning results, Fossati also uses chiaroscuro -within a misty background- in his forest themes to convey emotions related to mystery and intrigue, in line with his declared passion for wizardly fantasies where goblins lurk.
An almost opposite ambiance is brilliantly offered by Robert Mekis using similar elements in a rural landscape, where a road somehow promises untroubled life beyond storm clouds.
The presence of chiaroscuro in tree landscapes is already notable in European masters of the 17th century such as the Dutch Jan Both, often to convey pastoral moods.
In turn, painters from the Hudson River School — appreciably Asher Brown Durand- also resorted to luminstic representation in compositions based on trees.
Cloudy skies are another theme especially amenable to luminous contrasts. In his dazzling black/white photography, Ansel Adams left us splendid images of the American West which have become classics in the collective unconscious.
The artistic spirit behind Adams´ enterprise never ends. Examples are presented below of equally outstanding photos of cloudy skies with diverse emotional conveyance -which the reader may care to ponder- released by the three brilliant contemporary luminist landscape photographers visited today: Fossati, Mekis, and also the outstanding Bill Henson, whose landscape pieces would surely deserve further space to comment.
Although often having negative connotations in culture, darkness is an essential component of representation. Among other virtues, chiaroscuro helps give volume to objects, which implies working with the whole surface of the image as well as with its details. Achieving convincing chiaroscuros in painting is a matter of rightfully handling concepts, pigments, and brushes. Doing it in photography is not less complex by any means, and implies the rapid, intuitive mastering of the many, intricate aspects participating in photographic technique.
A tense, dynamic, already secular dialog continuously goes on between camera and canvas. As time and technology advance, borders between the two seem to be narrowing. From the outstanding contemporary landscape photographs shown above and the contemplation of the beautiful Berstadt painting below -all with conspicuous chiaroscuros- it would appear that the choice of media is no longer a limit at the time of representing contrasting light in landscape art.
