Modernism & Geometry: The Body as Form — The Legacy of Man Ray and Edward Weston
When we look at a photograph of a nude body, our instinct is to ask: “Who is this?”We search for facial features and emotional cues and personal narratives. Modernism required us to perform an extreme change in our viewing behavior which involved ignoring human faces to study artistic shapes.
The industrial revolution which began in the early 20th century brought humans their first experience of seeing the world in a new way. The introduction of steel beams and gears and skyscrapers brought about a fresh visual vocabulary which used straight lines to represent operational elements. It was inevitable that this modernist nude photography aesthetic would eventually strip the human body of its sentimentality, reducing it to what it physically is: a biological architecture of curves, triangles, and volumes. The modern fine art photographer needs to understand this development because it enables him to progress from basic photography to creating artistic visual arrangements.
The Death of the Portrait and the Birth of the Object
The primary tool of the modernist photographer was depersonalization. Through their artistic techniques which included face concealment and head cropping and body torsion artists Edward Weston made viewers study human body shapes independently from personal characteristics.
The famous Nude (1936) by Weston shows his muse Charis Wilson in the artwork. The photograph shows Wilson who has his body wrapped around his legs while his entire face remains concealed from view. The final form shows a stone or seashell appearance instead of showing a female figure. Weston documented in his daybooks his desire to capture a pepper and a rock and a nude subject through identical photographic intensity. The artist focused on showing the basic framework of the model instead of its emotional essence. The body functions as a landscape which the camera operates as a surveying tool according to our present understanding.
Man Ray: The Body as a Surrealist Mechanism
Weston searched for elements which occur in human bodies but Man Ray sought to discover both mechanical aspects and dreamlike elements. His method of studying geometry involved experimental techniques which produced cold and precise results.
Working in Paris in the 1920s and 30s, Man Ray (often with his collaborator and lover Lee Miller) developed the technique of solarization. By flashing the lights on during the development process, they created a silver “halo” line that outlined the body, flattening the 3D form into a 2D graphic design.
Man Ray created his famous 1924 photograph Le Violon d’Ingres by placing f-holes on Kiki de Montparnasse’s back which transformed her body into a musical instrument. The artwork follows Surrealist principles yet it uses Modernist techniques to create its composition because the artist transforms the human body into a violin shape which demonstrates that human bodies function as mathematical shapes in his artistic system.
Light as a Drafting Tool
A studio from the modern era needs its entire lighting system to undergo a complete redesign for achieving the “Body as Form” visual style. Modernist light appears in most cases as unflattering and non-soft illumination. The path becomes challenging to follow because it provides both clear directions and exact instructions.
The Weston Approach: The system allows natural light to enter the space while users have full control to determine both the duration and strength of daylight entry. Weston took Charis' photograph on a sun deck but he employed the deep shadows from the doorway to define her body shape against the surrounding environment.
The Man Ray Approach: Experiment with edge lighting. Use rim lights to create a profile outline of a hip or shoulder while keeping the entire body section in complete darkness.
Returning to Structure
Modernist nude photography creates a strong impact through its ability to display images which reveal minimal personal details and no social media elements. The artwork demonstrates that beauty exists independently from human physical characteristics and individual life stories. The human body shows its built-in structure through its natural spinal shape and the triangular shape which appears when the elbow bends. The human body reaches its peak worth when we see it as physical matter because this understanding stops us from treating it like an inanimate object.
