DP - What Does Documentary Mean? (Lesson)

What Does Documentary Mean?

What does it mean to document something? How has documentary artwork evolved throughout history? 

To document something is to create a factual record. In art, that translates to creating a visually accurate representation of something. Documenting has been a purpose of visual art arguably since its inception. 

These cave paintings from Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc in southern France are more than 30,000 years old and some of the earliest known examples of art made by humans. While it is impossible to know the purpose of these artworks, the details included in the paintings allow for the ready identification of many animals including rhinoceroses, horses, mammoths, musk oxen, ibex, reindeer, aurochs, megaceros deer, panthers, and owls. The human desire to record the world around them began long ago.

Examples of artists and tradespeople employed for the purposes of record keeping is seen throughout history. The East India Company (1600 – 1874) commissioned thousands of drawings and watercolors of landscape records representations of territory across South Asia for military, administrative, and scientific purposes. These were a vital tool used to help Britain exert and maintain control over the area. The functions of the artwork ranged from literal recording to propaganda. Sixteen to 20 hours of instruction weekly was provided to military cadets in topographical drawing, ensuring that they were competent in drawing architecture, landscape, and perspective.

Scientific illustration is another example of art used for documentary means. Herophilus, a Greek physician in Alexandria, Egypt (approximately 300 BCE) was a pioneer in illustration and was known to perform dissections and illustrate these subjects to learn about human anatomy. Early scientific discoveries were recorded, shared, and built upon by illustration. Greek botanist Pedanius Dioscorides created the illustrated book De Materia Medica to help identify plant species for medicinal purposes. Botanical illustration eventually became a well-respected profession and continues to be a subject of art.

Perhaps one of the most well-known Renaissance artists, Leonardo da Vinci, documented his research in anatomy, physics, and chemistry both visually and verbally in his notebooks. He studied these subjects on his own and used the knowledge gained to further his other artistic endeavors – in accurately portraying the human form, the play of light on a subject, and creating adequate paints. 

Artists were often employed to document conflict and make the outcome visible. Thus most art regarding conflict was created from the perspective of the battle’s victor. The story was told as they wanted, without regard to the other side. But as art progresses, this begins to change. Artists are no longer beholden to the purse strings of the victor and begin to create art according to their own ethics.

Franciso de Goya’s painting, The Third of May, shows the consequences of the Spanish uprising again the French invasion of Spain under Napoleon Bonaparte. Though the Spanish were eventually victorious against the French, the toll in human life and suffering was great. Though the painting was commissioned by the provisional government of Spain after ousting the French, de Goya commemorates the resistance without glorifying or glossing over the brutality of war.

When photography arrived in in the 1800s, it revolutionized documentary art. In the early days of photography, exposure times were long and subjects had to remain still for images to be clear. Thus landscapes and architecture were the perfect subjects for documenting. 

Philip Henry Delamotte was contracted to document the disassembly of the Crystal Palace and its reassembly at a new location. The Crystal Palace was built to house the first World’s Fair in 1851. His record is one the best records of how the building was constructed. He was among the first artists to use photography as a way of recording important structures.  

After learning the art of photography, Matthew Brady hired a team of photographers and traveled across the battlefields of the war to document the true reality and human cost of war. The Battle of Antitam was photographed by Mathew Brady’s photographers and displayed in his New York City Gallery in 1862. This was the first time the public was able to see en mass the brutal effects of war. It was the first battle where American war dead were photographed. 

Landscape photographers like Carleton Watkins and William Henry Jackson were vital to record the untouched west and its preservation for future generations. These documentary images were vital in getting support among people and politicians for their preservation and the creation of the national park system.

Jacob Riis is best known for his book, How the Other Half Lives, documenting the terrible living conditions of the slums of New York. This book raised awareness of poverty and led to reforms limiting slum lords. Often people are so removed from situations like this that it is difficult for them to imagine that they exist. Photography confronts the viewer with realities that we may otherwise be unaware of and can be a force for change.

Lewis Hine became a staff photographer for the National Child Labor Committee. His work photographing children working in sweatshops, mills, and factories was instrumental in creating the first child labor laws protecting children. 

Perhaps one of the most well known documentary photographers, and one of the founding members of Magnum Photos, is Henri Cartier-Bresson. His book and philosophy of The Decisive Moment continues to influence photographers today.   

It could be argued that the “best” documentary art goes beyond simply documenting and becomes a tool that conveys thoughts about politics, war, social inequality, and the human condition. In the next module we will explore some of the most well-known contemporary documentary photographers and their work.

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