The artwork titled “Newport, Rhode Island,” created by Clarence White in 1907, is a representative piece of the Pictorialism art movement. This photograph exemplifies the Pictorialist style, which emphasizes beauty, tonality, and composition over the documentation of reality.
In the artwork, an elegantly composed scene features a stone wall wrapped in creeping ivy, extending from the foreground into the distant background. Above the stone wall, decorative urns housing leafy topiaries stand atop the balustrade. The path alongside the wall curves gently, drawing the viewer’s eye towards the horizon. The overall tone and composition create a serene, almost ethereal atmosphere, indicative of the Pictorialist approach to photography.
