Montage: Activity 4

Activity 4
Find two examples of photomontages that are either from a commercial source or from a fine art background. Discuss in what context they have been produced and what techniques they share with political photomontages.
What messages, if any, are communicated through these photomontages and how effective do you think they are? Consider different ways that each image could have been tackled by the artist and come up with an idea for ‘another in the series’.

Calleja Anthony

Artist Jim Painter

This photo by Manuel Strehl was produced from a fine art perspective. The photo combines pictures of two different fruits and creates an illusion by putting one image inside the other, rather than creating the illusion by changing the position or physical location of objects- as in the political photomontages. This photo is very well done and looks natural.

Photo by Manuel Strehl

Photo by Joachim Beyrowski

This photo by Joachim Beyrowski was produced from a fine art background. Like the political cartoons, it moves two images to make it seem like they are one. By putting someone swimming in the street, the photo may be trying to convey a metaphorical message such as taking the "road less traveled" through hard work displayed by the swimmer. This is a very interesting image that must have taken a lot of editing to get the shadows and highlights look real.

Montage: Activity 3

Activity 3
As editors exercise their ever-increasing power over information control, what limits would you impose on them as to the extent to which they can manipulate the photographic image?
Devise a series of guidelines that will control the release of images that have been constructed for media use so that the public is aware as to the extent of the manipulation.

Doctored Image of President Hosni Mubarak at Mideast peace talks!

 Un-doctored Photo

Guidelines:
1. The image should look similar and not drastically different from the original
2. Physical appearance of a person should look similar to original
3. Pictures should not be changed drastically for hateful purposes
4. If changed, there needs to be notice of the change to the public wherever published


As editors exercise their ever-increasing power over information control, I would limit them so that they could not display altered information without telling the public that the image is altered. They should only be able to distribute altered images if the people who are going to receive the image are aware that the image has been altered in some way, but encourage them to keep the photo as real as possible. This will help avoid misinformation in the media and display things as they truly happened.

Montage: Activity 2

Activity 2: Blog Entry
Find two examples of political photomontages that are either from a historical or contemporary source.
Discuss in what context they have been produced and how effective you think they communicate their intended message.
Discuss the techniques that have been used to assemble the examples you have chosen and offer alternative ways that the artist could have put over the same message.

Photo by: Alice Matkins

In this example of a political photomontage, they are trying to communicate how Hitler only let people of his Aryan race compete in the Olympics. The artist of this photo has put dog collars on the athletes with Hitler, who is shown as a small powerless child, holding the leashes. It shows how the competitors were under Hitlers control and did not really have a choice in the matter. It also shows how proud Hitler was of his Aryan race, even though Jesse Owens beat them in the Olympics. 

Photo by: John Heartfield

In this photomontage, Adolf Hitler's face is cropped into a monkey's body and wearing a war helmet with a sword in hand. My interpretation of this image is that Hitler is being depicted as a wild and untamable animal. The photographer is showing their feelings of what they think they truly represent. I feel that this photographer could have cropped this character into a zoo or location with large amounts of animals to show the uncontrolled nature of this subject.