Nicole Page-Smith, photographer
What do you think are the main differences between the European and the American traditions of photography (or do you think there are any main differences) and to which traditions do you think your work more belongs? Jeffrey Harris
Nicole Page-Smith: European and American traditions of photography came out of a different education. If we think of the early genres of European photography and the beginnings of the history, we would be thinking William Fox Talbot, Anna Atkins and Julia Margaret Cameron from England and their traditional education from The Academy or a Neo revival of Classicism. French photography talks of the sky and the sea. Names represent nature soaring to the sky of the cathedral. A French education includes Gothic architecture. American early twentieth century photography comes mainly from the Camera Works publication and we think of Steiglitz, Steichen and another kind of Romanticism. Classical traditions have always been at the forefront of a book learnt education, including the early classics in literature and an art viewing public would have attended all the traditional museums in New York, full of classical to contemporary view.
My early sculpture viewing days included the main stream of books coming from America and since then traveling has fulfilled the void of a lack of general education from university and beyond. Private learning is always the best and I was told at school that this is the only time you learn. However, there is not a huge selection of reference material available in the bookshops or library, where I live. True is best and the real thing is even better. So, viewing photography exhibitions in the flesh is the best way to view art, books are second choice and then there is everything else. Highlight shows from travel vacation have included Cindy Sherman in London, and more recently Robert Doisneau in Italy. These wonderful exhibitions mixed in with treats from France through to Germany included "The Springtime of the Renaissance" at the Louvre and the Durer exhibition in Frankfurt, make for an enriching experience. It was good to catch up with fellow contemporary, Philip Guston and his late works exhibition. Our traditions, in the Southern Hemisphere, like the Americans and Philip Guston, mainly have photography in the newspaper, although Guston was being inspired by Robert Crumb comics. Many European and American newspapers are also still a good resource for photography exhibitions and accompanying reviews of shows.
So, the differences are about as wide and varied as the technique of photography used and equipment, cameras at hand etc. Early explorers of photography were extremely experimental and this leads us to Surrealist photography. Other early pioneers experimented with drawing on photography and now we have digital photography to redress the same technique with male Japanese photographers being masters at the task. Mostly the genre we are accustom to, with Japanese photography, is of older master photographers. Americans are also masters of colour photography, especially more recently, along with technicolour film. Europeans appear more steeped in the tradition of black and white photography, even to the present day photographers. However, Germans prefer colour photography for contemporary photographers to experiment with, although, current German contemporary photography came out of a well established background of black and white film. Everybody romanticizes about the French. The English are still stuck in the swinging sixties and we are more familiar with Her Majesty, Cecil Beaton or at least his book! I feel, however, my current photography explores the old traditions of early twentieth century French photography. This is a tradition of photography, I have known about since Art School, in the late eighties.
