by Editor Wicher Bos
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 11th of april 2025

'a sweet moment' by Katie Andelman

Maybe this year doesn't mean anything to you. It didn't for me either, until I asked ChatGPT to list a Condensed History of Visual Art Composition Techniques and their Connection to Scientific Discoveries.


It responded with a lengthy list of dates and events, for example:

“1816 – The first recorded image was invented by Joseph Nicephore Niepce using a sheet of silver-plated copper sensitized with chlorine or bromine fumes in addition to the iodine vapor.” Early steps in photography, or may be just a foreshadowing of it, because the date of Niépce's first photographic experiments is uncertain. Letters to his sister-in-law around 1816 indicate that Niépce had managed to capture small camera images on paper coated with silver chloride, making him apparently the first to have any success at all in such an attempt.

A more interesting item in that list I thought was this one…

“1816 – a resolution contrast technique of painting and drawing was invented by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), who used it to depict faces in high resolution with the rest of the image in low resolution, as for example in his drawing "Mrs. Charles Badham".” “The startling effects of Ingres's paintings—the collapsing of traditional depth and perspective and the presentation of figures "like the figures in a deck of cards"—were criticized in the 19th century but were welcomed by the avant-garde in the 20th century.” Some scolars say “Ingres’ work aligned with 19th-century artistic and technological developments, positioning him as a bridge between classical art and emerging photographic practices.”

About Mrs. Charles Badham

The artwork titled “Mrs. Charles Badham” is a creation of the esteemed artist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, dating back to 1816. Executed with pencil on paper, it is a quintessential example of the Neoclassicism art movement, embodying the precision and clarity characteristic of the genre. This portrait is a testament to Ingres’s skill in rendering the human figure with grace and elegance. It is housed at the Hammer Museum, which is associated with the University of California, located in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
The artwork depicts a gentlewoman seated in a poised and relaxed manner, showcasing the artist’s mastery in capturing the delicate features of her face and the intricate details of her attire. She is garbed in the fashion of the early 19th century, adorned with a hat embellished with ribbons and floral accents. The attire includes a shawl draped gracefully over her shoulders and a dress with discernible folds, exuding a sense of fluidity and textile realism. Ingres’s attention to the subtleties of light and shadow imparts a softness and depth to the portrait.
The backdrop offers a faint outline of a classical architectural landscape, a nod to the timeless elegance of antiquity favored during the Neoclassic period. Although this setting is rendered with less detail than the subject herself, it compliments the figure by infusing the scene with a sense of place and historical context. The interplay between figure and background in the artwork helps to focus the viewer’s attention on the subject while still situating her within a broader narrative of cultural and artistic heritage.


As photographers, we are so used to 'depth of field' as a tool in our artistic toolbox that it never occurred to me that this artistic technique was actually invented. I tried to find examples of this technique with a portrait style in the 1X image vault...

Below are the ones I found, but I may have missed yours. Feel free to add them in the comments section as a new reference.

Please enjoy.

Wicher

'Lost in Thought' by Paul 

'dry season II' by Sebastian Kisworo

'Pipe Smoking Man' by Chun H. Chang

'Passionata' by Marc Apers

'Gaze' by URANUS FILM

'Glimpse of Childhood' by Elian Coman

'Echoes of the Samurai Era' by S KANO

'Waiting' by Khoshro Creative Art Solution

Cloudy beauty' by oZzie

'The Midday Stalker' by Alex Tsarfin

And a different subject with a similar technique:

'unplugged' by Roswitha Schleicher-Schwarz

'Red Squirrel' by Gert J ter Horst

'Exposed' by David McCracken

'time' by Alexandros Dalkos

n/t by Anna Niemiec

Of course modern technology enables creating these effects in new ways, just one example… 

'Forever' by Carmine Chiriacò