Documentary art

Documentary art is an artistic practice aimed at a truthful, witnessing depiction of real events, social conditions and people's lives, often with a pronounced critical or compassionate intent. In a narrower sense the term is associated with artists who recorded the harsh reality of life during economic crises and social upheavals, notably British artists of the Great Depression era of the 1930s. The documentary approach tends toward authenticity, the specificity of place and time, and attention to ordinary people and everyday circumstances. The documentary impulse is closely intertwined with the development of photography, which from the outset was seen as a means of recording reality. Classic examples include the photographs of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, made for the Farm Security Administration in the United States, or the socially charged photo-reportage of Jacob Riis. In painting, printmaking, film and contemporary media, the documentary is often combined with artistic interpretation, raising questions about objectivity, the author's position and the ethics of depicting another's suffering. Today documentary art remains an influential current exploring memory, testimony, war and social justice.