Composition Exploration - Lewis Baltz

In order to find out just why Lewis Baltz’s photographs worked so well in terms of composition I decided to analyze a single photograph and deconstruct its composition. Firstly I wanted to look at how the horizontal lines were arranged so I used a light box, placed another piece of paper over the top, drew across all the horizontal lines then used this new composition to create a monochrome painting. For the second piece, I wanted to understand how the boxes worked within the composition in terms of positioning and alignment. So for this I decided to print off a copy of the original and paint the whole thing black, leaving only the boxes. By only using black and white to create the painting, it retained the intentional minimalist, stark and geometric presentation of the original photograph.

Both exercises allowed me to physically see clearly the composition and in turn showed that, regardless of content, the composition Lewis Baltz has created would work on its own but coupled with the content it allows for a very effective and bold piece of art. Also, the composition clearly presents an indefinite sense of modernism with the almost grid-like structure, which is something I intend to look for.

Public Places, Berkeley, 1972

As you can see from the image, the horizontal composition is very formal and uniform. Compositional balance is something that is clearly evident within this piece and is generally a common focus in most modernist work.