Fotografie, literatuur en werkelijkheid (Photography, literature and reality)

The author tries to shed new light on the current opposition between staged and
documentary photography by discussing the ideas of the Dutch writer and
(amateur) photographer Willem Frederik Hermans on the differences between text
and photograph. The author first summarizes the roots of the above mentioned
opposition: the historical debate between the realists and symbolists, as
manifested in both literature and visual art in the second half of the 19th
century, citing Baudelaire. Referring to semiology, a difference between the
photographic image and literary reality is established in terms of 'signifier'
and 'signified'. The author then discusses Hermans' central theme: ""The
difference between the picture that people have of reality and that reality
itself''. The author concludes: ""According to Hermans neither language nor
image can reproduce actual reality in a controllable way, but both are able to
be employed as an artistic means to suggest the inexpressible. The above
mentioned opposition between staged and documentary photography is
unimportant''. (Dutch/English)


Citaten:
Baudelaire, C.