Here at Cramer Imaging, we believe that photography is an art form.  Many others do too.  However, the natural followup question is what type of art is photography?  So, today, we tackle that question and do our best to answer it.  Keep reading for more.

The 7 Traditional Forms of Art

For a long time, there were seven forms of art which the world recognized.  These art forms are as follows.

1. Painting (including all similar forms such as drawing)
2. Sculpture
3. Literature
4. Architecture
5. Cinema
6. Music
7. Theater (Theatre)

Perhaps you recognize these art forms for yourself.  We find a mix of visual, audio, written, and performative arts on this list.  Surely, we can find a category for photography.

What Type of Art is Photography?

Now, let’s face the facts.  Photography doesn’t quite fall under any of the headings listed above.  So, where do we categorize photography?  That’s an interesting question.  Here are some of the points we must consider when choosing the best possible category heading for photography as an art form.

Just like cinema, photography is a relatively new medium.  However, it’s visual and 2-dimensional much like painting.  To top it all off, it requires proper arrangement of physical matter in front of a viewer, much like theater and cinema.

Indeed, photography seems to take pieces of the other mediums without completing a definition.  So, we must conclude that photography doesn’t fall under any of the traditional art forms listed above.  We must conclude that photography deserves its own category as an art form.

Conclusion

As art is an ever changing and evolving field, it makes sense for the list above to grow and change.  Perhaps it’s time to add photography to the accepted list of art forms as its own category.

What do you think, reader?  Is photography an art form?  What type of art form is photography?  Does it fall under an already established heading or does it deserve its own category as I’ve proposed?  Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.