Light and Magic at Tate Modern – why turn a photograph into a painting?

Laura Cumming | The Observer | 15th October 2026

Once photography emerged in the 1820’s, a debate started about whether it was art. Pictorialism was one response to that debate. Spread through camera clubs across the world, it advocated for photos that looked like … paintings. That meant “the darkroom, not the lens” was where the magic happened. For example, images of ballet dancers were made to look like Degas’ damsels. But why bother? By the time some of these images were made photography was already “its own kind of art”.