Celebrating the best of monochromatic photography, the Black+White Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) contest has awarded the winners of the 2018 competition. The biennial contest is organized by Black+White Photography Magazine in partnership with Fujifilm and is open to amateur and professional photographers.

Rachael Talibart was awarded the top prize for her striking image of a breaking wave captured off the southern coast of England. The ocean spray, frozen in time, is a dramatic shot that takes on even greater mystery in black and white. “With the right image, I find that shooting black and white can powerfully enhance the emotion I’m trying to evoke and, being one step removed from reality, it can offer a fresh perspective,” she shared.

Talibart, who is both an experienced sailor and professional photographer, beat out a field of talented international photographers to win the title of Black+White Photographer of the Year. Participants were asked to submit images across three categories: The World of People, The World Around Us, and The Creative World. The winners were judged by an expert panel that included Elizabeth Roberts (editor of Black + White Photography Magazine), Shoair Mavlian (assistant curator of Photography at the Tate Modern), and 2015 BPOTY winner Vicki Painting.

Talibart’s image was selected for its combination of technical skill and artistry, which tipped the balance in favor of the landscape photograph. In a field heavily peppered with imagery including people, Talibart’s win proves that this type of photography is just as powerful as portraiture or photojournalism.

Take a look at the other winning and shortlisted entries from the Black+White Photographer of the Year 2018 competition.

Black+White Photography Magazine: Website | Facebook | Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to use photos by Black+White Photography Magazine.

Related Articles:

Hasselblad Announces 2018 “Masters” of Its Iconic Photography Competition

Winners of the 2017 MonoVisions Photography Awards Explore the World in Black & White

Winners of the Sony World Photography Awards 2017 Open Competition Revealed

Winners of the B&W Child Photography Contest Capture the Universal Essence of Childhood

The post Striking Winners of the 2018 Black + White Photographer of the Year Competition appeared first on My Modern Met.

http://ift.tt/2rNY3xE

As a prominent Impressionist artist, Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) is often regarded as one of art history’s most famous female painters. An unmarried American woman living in Paris, Cassatt was able to make a name for herself in the male-dominated movement, defying 19th century gender expectations and paving the way for future female artists.

In addition to admiring her canvases, understanding the context of her art is an important aspect of appreciating her role in both Impressionism and in the realm of modern art. While her most well-known pieces were produced when she was an established artist, her desire to become a painter can be traced back to her childhood.

Early Interest in Art

As Cassatt’s career was largely based in Europe, it is no surprise that traveling abroad as a child is what sparked her interest in art. In the 1850s, Cassatt spent many years in Germany and France, where she picked up the languages and developed an interest in drawing. Following her return to Philadelphia, she enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where she began to study painting in 1861.

While her parents supported her interest in the arts, they—like many other people during this time—did not deem it a suitable career for a woman. Nevertheless, she continued her artistic education until 1865, when she grew tired of the restraints placed upon female students. One year later, she moved to Paris, France, where her career came to fruition.

Life in Paris

Traditionally, most aspiring artists living in Paris studied at the École des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts). Due to her gender, however, Cassatt was not allowed to attend. To make up for this loss, she paired independent study (she was privately taught by Jean-Léon Gérôme, a prominent French painter) with hands-on learning as a Louvre copyist.

In addition to producing copies of masterpieces, Cassatt created original paintings during her early years in Paris, including Two Women Throwing Flowers. With the hope of being selected for the traditional salon—an annual exhibition that featured hand-picked paintings—most of these works are painted in a realist style. Frustrated by a string of salon rejections and unhappy with the treatment of female participants, however, she abandoned this path and found her place among Paris’ avant-garde up-and-comers, the “Impressionists.”

Impressionism

Cassatt was invited to exhibit with the Impressionists by Edgar Degas, an established artist whose work Cassatt had admired for years. The Impressionists were connected by a unique approach to painting, characterized by a preference for thick brushstrokes, an interest in everyday subject matter, and a habit of painting en plein air, or outdoors. While most of the artists associated with the movement—including Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir—were male, the Impressionists accepted and exhibited female artists, including “virtuoso colorist” Berthe Morisot and, of course, Mary Cassatt.

Cassatt began showing her work—like the iconic Little Girl in Blue Armchair—with the Impressionists in 1879, five years after the group’s first independent exhibition. For the remainder of her career, she would reject realism and abandon the confines of her studio in order to produce Impressionist paintings and pastels.

The post How Female Painter Mary Cassatt Became an Important Impressionist Figure appeared first on My Modern Met.

http://ift.tt/2rIpau2