Page 25 - Studio International - October1973

Photography as sculpture

on Hamish Fulton R H Fuchs
Uber allen Gipfeln ist Ruh (Goethe). strikingly so, the single view reproduced on the lonely trees and woods beyond, a clear day in
Among the manuscript notes of Leonardo there opposite page has a special quality in its autumn.
is a beautiful one concerning the `18 actions of carefully controlled composition: the Mount in The title to this note brings two words
man': 'repose, movement, running, standing, the centre, its reflection in the water (which together: photography and sculpture. I would
supported, sitting, leaning, kneeling, lying occupies almost the exact lower half of the suggest that the kind of space measurement by
down, suspended, carrying or being carried, photograph), and the circles blurring the top. In photographic means in 10 Views has a sculptural
thrusting, pulling, striking, being struck, particular, the image is brilliant for its spacing, quality; that is if one is willing to accept the
pressing down and lifting up.' Of course this measured and balanced; and that also is the proposition that measurement of distances, in
remark has nothing to do with Hamish Fulton's most impressive quality of the whole series, a space, in relation to each other, and making them
concerns in a work like 10 Views of Brockmans continuum of views evolving like a melody, felt as primary, is a sculptural activity; by
Mount - or almost nothing. Leonardo's list of picking up speed and becoming dense with tradition, this would appear to be so.4 In any
movements and actions is, after all, an early sound, then slowing down, pausing for a case, only by referring to the notion of the
document of that intriguing, Renaissance moment, then rising again. A short description sculptural can one make any artistic sense out of
sensibility that made visual differentiation as of the series might convey, however poorly, what 10 Views.5 Otherwise the series would belong
such a major quality in art, and its appreciation a I am trying to explain. to the history of photography, subdivision
central element in the history of taste - in a Imagine the hill : at right in the photograph, photography of landscape, in which tradition it
tradition to which Hamish Fulton evidently still seen from a high point, over a valley, medium would fit nicely but surely without being
belongs and which, therefore, must function as a distance, haziness beyond; or farther off, from a outstanding. In fact the photographs even
framework for his imagination and intelligence. low point with trees and bushes in the reject some qualities particularly cherished in
Almost all of Fulton's pieces consist of two or foreground, on a greyish day; or very far off, in photography - like a love for picturesque detail,
more photographs, different from each other in the centre, a low shot over barren land, almost dramatic lighting or striking composition (by
various ways,- - and 10 Views of Brockmans invisible through winter fog; or in the centre, far framing, mostly).° They are pointedly neutral,
Mount is a work of ten photographs, each one of off, over a valley, in summer sunlight even uninteresting, as photography, except if one
them 'taking position' in relation to that hill, like shimmering; or slightly left, from very high, can accept their spatial structure as something
a dancer circling the ballerina: closing in, over smooth slopes, unclear on the misty on its own, and something relevant within the
moving away, rising above her, kneeling down.2 horizon; or frontal, in the centre, from close, context of sculpture, without of course being
The simile fits, I think, for these ten over a smooth surface of water, reflecting; or sculpture, and considers the photograph not as a
photographs are not just of a hill; more so, they left, close and from below, through barren trees, vehicle for images of landscape but as a
reflect an almost physical involvement with it. in the pale autumn sun; or from a low point, documentary medium for measuring spatial
The 10 Views show Brockmans Mount as seen rather close in the centre, rising through structures and circumstances as such, with the
from different points, over different distances, morning mist over a crest; or left, far off, landscape as vehicle. That acceptance is a
in different seasons, and different weather. coming into view over cornfields and lush matter of willingness; I cannot force it by
Every photograph, by its very nature as summer woods; or left, far off, over fields with theoretical argument.
recorded reality, refers to a moment in time past.
In this case each photograph is a souvenir of
Hamish Fulton going out, choosing a point and
looking at the hill, and the hill only, for somehow
the photographic perception is so strongly
directed towards that focal point, the hill, and so
precisely framed by it, that it is evidently
senseless to scan the photographs for
particularly beautiful or attractive spots, as one
is actually invited to do with a traditional
landscape painting. In no way are the
photographs sentimental about natural beauty,
which is one reason why Fulton's work is not
very romantic, at least, no more than is
suggested by some relation to a historically
romantic interest for distant regions.3 The
artist has chosen a point from which to look at
Brockmans Mount; that is a perceptual
experience of distance in space; and the
photograph is recording just that, as it also
records the different conditions, of season and
weather, that may affect one's experience of
space and distance.
More than the others, or at least more

(Opposite page) View of Brockmans Mount, a (Above) Dead Magpie 1971-2
naturally formed hill near Hythe, Kent. Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum

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