Photography and Cinema

developmentofavant-gardefilm,atrendthatcontinuedforseveral

decades.Moholy-Nagy,ManRay,FrancisBruguière,PaulStrandand

CharlesSheeler,alongwithlaterfiguressuchasHelenLevitt,William

Klein,RobertFrankandEdvanderElsken,madesignificantcontribu-

tionsbothtophotographyandfilm.^5 Mostoftentheymademoving

equivalentsoftheirstillphotographicwork,producingmulti-layeredfilm

essays.Againstmainstreamcinema,avant-gardefilmevolvedacrossthe

middledecadesofthetwentiethcenturyasananti-narrativepoetics.

Itspreferencewasfortheexpressivemontageoffragments,resistingthe

presentationofseamlessstories.Photographyhasforeverstruggledwith

narrative,asweshallseeinthecomingchapters,butthispredisposedit

towardsanalliancewithavant-gardefilm.

WhileFilm und Fotomadeclearthisconnection,inotherrespects

theeventwasnotthegreatunifyingforcethatwasintended.Criticsand

historiansofcinemaseetheeventprimarilyasalandmarkshowcasefor

theadvancedfilmofthetime,whilehistoriansofphotographyseeFilm

und Fotoasadefiningmomentfortheirmedium.^6 Partoftheproblem

wasthecompletedifferenceinmodesofdisplayandattention.The

photographywashunginexhibitionspaces,whilethefilmswereshown

inaseparatecinema.Thisdidnotcohereasavisualexperience,even

thoughaudiencesofthe 1920 salreadymovedeasilyatanimaginative

levelbetweenthephotographicandthefilmic.Wemightcontrastthis

withtoday’ssituationinwhichexhibitionspaceshavebecomeacontext

forallthearts,includingfilm.Forexample,recentlyatTateModernin

London,Moholy-Nagy’shybridworkLight-Space Modulator( 1930 )could

beviewedinallitsformsinoneroom,asasculpture,asafilmandas

photographs.OnlineathomeIcanviewthephotosandplaythefilmon

thesamescreen.Evenso,conceptualizingtherelationshipbetweenphoto-

graphyandfilmremainscomplex.Shouldoneproceedonthegrounds

ofasharedtechnicalbase?Sharedaestheticconcerns?Sharedcultural

aims?Orarethedifferencesjustasdefining?

Anobviouswaytothinkabouttherelationistoweighupwhattheir

mechanismsdoanddonothaveincommon.Butstressingtheapparatuses

overtheirsocialusesortheiraestheticdimensionswillgiveusonlya

10 partialaccount.Inasmuchasphotographyandfilmdependuponthe