"Sharpness is a bourgeois concept"

CP93 said:
Calling someone's opinion bourgeois is a bourgeois concept. Oops, wait...
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But you see, HCB was an "artist", and being an artist allows you to point fingers at others from your superior position above the fray of everyday life. In art school, that was one of the most important, if always unspoken, messages that were drilled into us. Elitist garbage, of course, but when you're young you like to hear and believe that you're superior.
 
Retro-Grouch said:
But you see, HCB was an "artist", and being an artist allows you to point fingers at others from your superior position above the fray of everyday life. In art school, that was one of the most important, if always unspoken, messages that were drilled into us. Elitist garbage, of course, but when you're young you like to hear and believe that you're superior.
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I think you do him an injustice. In his whimsical way, and given his left-wing leanings, he was simply saying that falling over each other to find the sharpest (and most expensive) lens was not what interested him. For him, satisfaction/interest/art/beauty - call it what you will - lay in the choice of moment and the satisfying geometry of the image.
 
Jonathan R said:
I think you do him an injustice. In his whimsical way, and given his left-wing leanings, he was simply saying that falling over each other to find the sharpest (and most expensive) lens was not what interested him. For him, satisfaction/interest/art/beauty - call it what you will - lay in the choice of moment and the satisfying geometry of the image.
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Of course. But in that era, "bourgeois" was a very loaded word. In the recent past, in Europe, people had been killed for being "Bourgeois". Too many artists of that time toyed with Marxism and Marxist rhetoric while turning a blind eye to the horrors being perpetrated in its name. And I say that as a confirmed Lefty who thinks that the Marxist analysis of modern economics is still one of the most valuable tools we have for its understanding.
 
Retro-Grouch said:
Of course. But in that era, "bourgeois" was a very loaded word. In the recent past, in Europe, people had been killed for being "Bourgeois". Too many artists of that time toyed with Marxism and Marxist rhetoric while turning a blind eye to the horrors being perpetrated in its name. And I say that as a confirmed Lefty who thinks that the Marxist analysis of modern economics is still one of the most valuable tools we have for its understanding.
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Fair enough. But ‘elitist garbage’ from a superior youngster? How old was HCB when he said this? I had the impression that he was already an established figure by this time, hence the interview. In any case, setting up Magnum was quite a bourgeois thing to do.🙂
 
Jonathan R said:
Fair enough. But ‘elitist garbage’ from a superior youngster? How old was HCB when he said this? I had the impression that he was already an established figure by this time, hence the interview. In any case, setting up Magnum was quite a bourgeois thing to do.🙂
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I'm afraid you misunderstood my post. I used the phrase "elitist garbage" in reference to my experience in art school, where we were given the message that our status as "artists" gave us superior insight into the world. We loved to hear that, and, since our tuition money was paying their salary, many of our instructors were only too happy to tell us as much. They probably believed it, as well.
All a digression: back to the real purpose of the thread, which is blurry photos... 😉
 
Retro-Grouch said:
I'm afraid you misunderstood my post. I used the phrase "elitist garbage" in reference to my experience in art school, where we were given the message that our status as "artists" gave us superior insight into the world. We loved to hear that, and, since our tuition money was paying their salary, many of our instructors were only too happy to tell us as much. They probably believed it, as well.
All a digression: back to the real purpose of the thread, which is blurry photos... 😉
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Ah, my apologies for misunderstanding. 🙏
 
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