Amateur Photographer – June 1954

Dawn by Francis Wu

Anyone who has read elementary textbook on art will know the difference between notan and chiaroscuro. Notan is the delineation of form by outlines or flat washes strictly in two dimensions and is the basis of most early forms of graphic art, from the cave men to the early oriental wood cut artist. Chiaroscuro is the deliberate projection of three-dimensional form on a two-dimensional plane by means of tone graduation, which represent depth and roundness. All straight photography is therefore chiaroscuro.

The wonderful work of the Japanese and Chinese artists of the past had a very strong influence on all their graphic arts, and that influence still lingers so strongly that it can affect many oriental photographers. While they are unable to produce a true notan effect with the camera, they often achieve such a distinct separation of planes, each plane without much depth of its own, that the first impression obtained by the viewer is strongly reminiscent of early Japanese painting. This is particularly noticeable in the abundance of lake photographs which have been sent to our exhibitions since the war (WWII) Each mountain in the distance is separated by a layer of mist and each plane has so little tone contrast that it could almost be a series of drops or wings on the theatre stage, and a starling contrast is then provided by one dark object, usually a boat or a fisherman in rich, dark tones in the foreground.

Some of the early Italian painters, notably Giotto and Botticelli, combined notan and chiaroscuro to good effect, and some of the better Eastern photographers give the same impression. “Dawn” by Francis Wu is one of them. The foreground is on one plane only and. being silhouetted, shows no depth at all. The middle distance is represented by the boat and although it has form and modeling, it is in such a short range of tones that it is virtually becomes a backdrop to the foliage design in the foreground. These clear-cut contrast is, the very effective arrangement of the composition, and the originality of the idea, make it most attractive and appealing picture with an atmosphere that cannot fail to stimulate the imagination