Gregory Crewdson - Text from Charlotte Cotton

I looked in my book "The photograph as contemporary art" as my initial starting point for researching some of the photographers mentioned in relation to this brief, the below extract is typed up, word for word as it appears on pages 67-68 in the book, written by Charlotte Cotton.

“American artist Gregory Crewdson (b. 1962) has said that his elaborately constructed melodramas are influenced by his memory of childhood. His psychoanalyst-father’s office was in the basement of their New York City home, and Crewdson would press his ear to the floorboards to try and imagine the stories being told in the therapy sessions. In the mid1990s, Crewdson’s tableau photographs were set in models of suburban backyards and undergrowth built in his studio. They are a mix of the bizarre and the disturbing, yet are so highly camp and entertaining. Stuffed animals and birds perform strange and ominous rituals, while plaster casts of Crewdson’s body are shown being slowly devoured by insects, surrounded by lush foliage. Crewdson later shifted into a more directorial mode. In his black-and-white series Hover (1996-97), he staged strange happenings in suburban housing areas, photographing them from a crane above the rooftops. More recently, in his Twilight series, he worked with a cast and crew of the kind found on a film set. Here it is not only the display of rituals and the paranormal but also the construction of archetypal characters who carry out these acts that create the psychological drama. Significantly, at the back of the book about the Twilight series is a ‘documentary views’ section that shows the entire production process, the crew members, and the moments before and after a photograph is taken, confirming the degree to which Crewdson’s tableau photography is a production issue.”

(The Photograph As Contemporary Art by Charlotte Cotton, p.67-68)

The image below is the example that accompanied the above text in the mentioned book.        

As soon as i saw the above image, i was reminded of an image by Tom hunter (see below)

I remembered that Tom Hunters work, this image in particular was a recreation of a famous pre-Raphaelite painting  (see below)

The painting by John Everett Millais  was recreated by Hunter; in a completely modern context. The story behind Ophelia,  is taken from Hamlet. Ophelia who through the death of her father and brother is driven to madness,  and drowns herself. The emotion is meant to be one of not only sorrow but of sympathy; the character of ophelia is presented as one of innocence, reservation and simplicity; her madness was something bought on by her irrationality and her circumstance. Millais tries to capture this through her expression on her face as she lies in the water; her arms poised in a helpless manner: almost as if to say woe is me. 

Hunter rekindles many of these concepts within his work; but makes the image realistic within the 21st century.  The model is deliberately wearing “modern” or clothing synonymous with the 21st century. One of the most powerful elements of this image as a modern recreation, is the train bridge in the background; although very subtle, it completely changes the context of the image, and brings the scene ‘back to reality”. The emotion in Ophelia’s face and expression has been removed by hunter; here he composes her almost as if she is dead: pale and motionless. This brings to mind the element of a sinister death as opposed to a sympathetic peaceful one.

Thinking about Hunter, and his recreation, who i am thankfully so familiar with due to research for a previous assignment last year, I would imagine Crewdson was too, inspired by John Everett Milliais's painting.