{
  "id": 14985351,
  "title": "Tate Modern exhibitions explores Pictorialism and the birth of soft-focus photography",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/16/tate-modern-exhibitions-explores-pictorialism-and-the-birth-of-soft",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-16T15:51:21.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Art Newspaper",
    "slug": "the-art-newspaper",
    "url": "https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/10/16/tate-modern-exhibitions-explores-pictorialism-and-the-birth-of-soft-focus-photography"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Tate Modern has unveiled a new exhibition titled \"Light and Magic: The Birth of Art Photography,\" which explores the Pictorialist photography movement and its influence on the evolution of soft-focus photography. Senior curator Charmaine Toh, who has written her PhD thesis on Pictorialism, describes this show as a revisionist approach to celebrating the movement that has often been overlooked in the history of photography.\n\nPictorialism, a salon-based photography movement, sought to establish photography as an art form on par with painting or sculpture. Traditionally seen as a 1920s-1930s practice confined to Europe and North America, Pictorialism persisted well into the 1950s and 1960s worldwide, according to Toh. The movement's pioneers, such as Alfred Stieglitz, Clarence Hudson White, and Henry Peach Robinson, aimed to manipulate visual elements to counter the objective nature of photography.\n\nToh's exhibition highlights Pictorialism's connection to dance, featuring works by French photographer Robert Demachy that resemble Edgar Degas's ballet paintings. Chinese photographer Luo Bonian's work also mirrors traditional ink drawings. The curator emphasizes that Pictorialism was a much broader phenomenon than its early style tropes suggest, driven by a desire to accept photography as fine art.\n\nInternational photography clubs, like the Linked Ring in London and the Photo-Club de Paris, played a crucial role in disseminating Pictorialist work through international exhibitions. Toh points out that even in non-European centers like Singapore, Brazil, and Australia, photographers participated in Pictorialist exhibitions, showcasing the movement's global reach.\n\nToh aims to reclaim Pictorialism's place as a vital 20th-century artistic movement alongside Modernism. She argues that Modernism needed Pictorialism to define itself as \"clear, sharp, about being in the city, about modernity,\" while Pictorialism was defined as \"non-Modern.\" She describes the relationship between Modernism and Pictorialism as an intriguing dynamic, where Modernist photography struggled to fit Pictorialism into its narrative. The exhibition runs until 21 February 2027 at Tate Modern.",
  "summary": "The show challenges the movement’s reputation as outdated and narrowly Western, tracing its networks and influence beyond the birth of Modernism",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Art Newspaper",
        "title": "Frieze in London, Tarek Atoui at Tate Modern, Sienese sculptor Francesco di Giorgio—podcast",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/16/frieze-in-london-tarek-atoui-at-tate-modern-sienese-sculptor",
        "published": "2026-10-16T10:05:37.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}