Excerpts from Eli Siegel’s discussion of photography from the Aesthetic Realism point of view—
From the book: “The question of emotion in photography is the question of emotion in art. One of the things I said years ago is that great poetry couldn’t come without a great beginning emotion. Therefore it is necessary to ask what is meant by ‘a great emotion.’
“Two photographs which have caused a great emotion [are] Brady’s The Ruins of Richmond (1865) and the other is The Steerage of Stieglitz. In the Brady, this mingling of pride and ruin―the standing up of the ruins and this gutting―does something to one….The world is repellent and sad, and it is also attractive, and that is what we feel in ‘The Ruins of Richmond’….
“The purpose of art is to make the world seem to have sense. When the world really makes sense, not because it is fortunate for us or goes our way, we have a big emotion. But we have to have it not by leaving out anything.”
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