Does "Art" come in to media about the railways? What is art?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Is this art?

[ellendune]

Why would it not be art?

[JayMac]

Eye of the beholder and all that.

[grahame]

Why would it not be art?

This sort of thing has been described to me as "messing about with Photoshop" to me - but then I look at some famous picture and the look like "messing about with oil paints" to me and I don't (fully) understand the difference.

Eye of the beholder and all that.

Yeah, probably

[Bob_Blakey]

The images above would surely come under the heading of Impressionism. I don't think anybody would try and argue that the output of such as Monet & Renoir is not art. That doesn't mean you have to like it.

[ChrisB]

Images. If created by hand they are art. If AI or other IT created them, there's a debate to be had.

[johnneyw]

Images. If created by hand they are art. If AI or other IT created them, there's a debate to be had.

Photographic art?  Recognised as an art form since the last century.

[CyclingSid]

If David Hockney can produce and sell art created with an IPad I am sure these could be classified as art.

Most railway posters, certainly between WWI and WWII^▸ (World War 2 - 1939 to 1945) such as the large collections in the NRM^» (National Railway Museum, at York and Shildon - about) https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/search/categories/railway-posters,-notices-&-handbills and LT Museum  https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/the-collection?f%5B0%5D=collection_type%3APosters are written about as art.

[grahame]

Fascinating comments ... and I have (just) voted in my own poll - "yes".    That does not mean it is successful art!

The base product - the photograph - may itself be art - from Eden Gallery

Photography can be an art form, but not all photographs are created to be artworks or as forms of artistic expression. It took time for photography to be truly recognized as a valid art form. However, in the present day, many art museums and art galleries now exhibit photographic artworks.

Many photographs are illustrative - painting a thousand words, but others are taken/used and perhaps then manipulated in an attempt to heighten their effect on the audience, be that a wide audience or just the audience of the photographer him/herself. And I can't see them as not being art.  In terms of success as art - as a picture I would have on my wall, just one of the five I posted asking "is this art" stands out to me saying "this works" ...



The lines converging into the distance, the bright colours of SWT^▸ (South West Trains), the photographer who catches the eye ... adds up for me.

[ChrisB]

Images. If created by hand they are art. If AI or other IT created them, there's a debate to be had.

Photographic art?  Recognised as an art form since the last century.

It's not Photographic if AI or IT created them though. Nor art.

[johnneyw]

Images. If created by hand they are art. If AI or other IT created them, there's a debate to be had.

Photographic art?  Recognised as an art form since the last century.

It's not Photographic if AI or IT created them though. Nor art.

Yes, I get what you're saying.  I was just questioning if photographic art fits into your definition of "created by hand".