I recently visited the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida where one of the shows on display was "Romantics to Moderns, British Watercolors and Drawings."
The introduction to the show noted that:
"As the topographic view and observation of nature began to be replaced by the artist's interpretation of landscape convention in an actual locale there was an increasing interest in expressing emotion and an inner personal vision which are closely associated with the literary and artistic movement of Romanticism." [emphasis mine]
Photography at this time (last half of the 19th century) was influenced by the same aesthetic (called Pictorialism) and it was as a counterpoint that the f/64 photo group was formed, it's most notable members being Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. These photographers sought to produce what they termed "straight" photography, absent the affectation of the Pictorialists.
Though they succeeded in defining a new aesthetic in photography, one can make the case that the resulting images continue to express emotion and an inner personal vision but in a fashion unique to the artists and the medium of photography.
One has to ask, doesn't all artwork ultimately express emotion and an inner personal vision?
