Thought-provoking question.
I think that the White/Weston/Adams/Callahan/Siskind influence really isn't particularly strong anymore. In fine art circles, I would say that the Bechers and their Dusseldorf group have had far more influence over the past two decades. The Bechers were the teacher/photographers to which you refer, but their students include the enormously influential Struth, Gursky, Hofer and Ruff.
I'm not familiar with too many photographers as teachers, which seems to be what the original post was getting at. The Yale School of Art does have a fantastic faculty, including Crewdson, Papageorge and Richard Benson, none of whom I would call "cookie cutter," but YMMV. But in any event, a teacher can only teach a certain number of students, even in a long life in academia. A photographer's images can influence a lot of people. So I am expanding the notion of teacher, to recognize the free flow of information and images, and the truth that art often develops outside the academy. After all, how many people find their mature styles while in art school?
Off the top of my head, in addition to the Dusseldorf group, I would list the following as four currently influential photographers. The late Richard Avedon. Jeff Wall was a great suggestion. Cindy Sherman. In a different way: Michael Kenna. All different photographers, with different styles, but all of whom resonate with the market and with other photographers. Two traditional photographers, and two with more of an art world following.
-Laura |