André Bazin – The Ontology of the Photographic Image, Schlemowitz – Chapter 1

In the beginning of this reading, Andre Bazin shows how ancient Egyptians use to practice embalming, which is keeping bodies for decaying after mummifying them. The author compares the practice to the inception of plastic art. I think there is a need for a person or community to practice whatever satisfies their desire.

There is also the basic psychological need of a person to outplay time and by preserving the body, this desire is achieved.

Their aim was beating death, however that was impossible in real life but could be done by painting images of the dead as a way of preserving their existence. An example of this is Louis XIV, who was depicted to have survived via painting. Therefore, I have the opinion that photography is a conflicting relationship with arts that represent obsession with reality.

The invention of the camera in the fifteenth century was believed to be the creation of photography that would make things appear in reality. I think this made the spiritual expression combined with the imitation of the outside world to be close to reality. I see this as an illusion that was created via painting due to the desire to see reality and a duplication of the world around us. Also known as fooling the eye with obsession of reality.

So to reach my overall point, I see photography as the most important in the history of plastic arts since it expresses reality in clear picture.