Pictorialism was a movement, a philosophy, an aesthetic, and a style that arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries out of a desire to elevate photography to an art form equal to painting and the graphic arts.

In this video, TIME-LIFE photographers David Burnett and Chris Usher take you back to the early art photography era, setting up, shooting, and developing a photo the "pictorialist" way. 

In conjunction with special exhibition TruthBeauty: Pictorialism and the Photograph as Art, 1845-1945 on view at The Phillips Collection Oct. 9, 2010 through Jan. 9, 2011.

TruthBeauty is proudly sponsored by LOCKHEED MARTIN

Organized by George Eastman House and Vancouver Art Gallery

© The Phillips Collection, 2010