Who Is Paul Strand's Porch Shadows

The subject matter of Paul Strand’s Porch Shadows is abstracted by limitations of the artist’s preconceived techniques. Strand isolated the subject’s basic formal elements to make it an aesthetically pleasing photograph and nothing more. Anyone can photograph an object, yet it takes a trained eye and a defined strategy to reduce the object into an abstract form. Porch Shadows exemplifies the Modernist shift in photography by rejecting previous conventions of artistic expression and adopting a style that focuses on line, shape, and tonalities rather than the subject matter itself. The Modernist shift becomes evident by analyzing the formal and technical elements of Porch Shadows, as well as Paul Strand’s background in photography.
To understand Strand’s intent behind this photograph it is helpful first to understand what Modernism is. Modernists abandoned historical subject matter in favor of portraying contemporary events and experimental representation. Modernists believed that meaning is intrinsically placed in an artwork by the artist and read by the viewer. Modernists felt that …show more content…
Combined with Cubist ideals, the image became an abstract representation of the subject matter. A viewer making the most basic, surface level observation would see that the shadows in Porch Shadows don’t appear any less three-dimensional than the table itself. Thanks to the Modernist shift towards abstraction and the focus on experimental representation through line, tone, shape, and composition, the viewer is allowed to disassociate the subject matter to focus on the aesthetically pleasing elements of the photograph. Yet, based off of the hints from of the photograph’s title and a further investigation of the image, Strand allows the viewer to realize the subject matter, giving the image deeper context and a new perspective on photography as an art