I have been reading a fascinating book titled Group f.64 by Mary Street Alinder.  I was particularly interested in chapter 9, The Enemy Mortensen.

Ansel Adams is well known and remembered; William Mortensen, not so much.  In the 1930's Mortensen was a very active portraitist in the pictorialist movement, while Adams along with Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham and others formed the f.64 group which emphasized realistic photographic scenes with great attention to detail.  

Adams scorned the manipulated images of pictorialism, while Mortensen disparaged Adams' realistic scenes as documents lacking artistic expression.  Both artists produced carefully crafted work, but were philosophically miles apart. The different styles led to a very personal dislike.

It seems to me there are parallels with debates today regarding the use of digital post-processing, falsified and manipulated details versus small adjustments in contrast and color.

Both Mortensen and Adams consider their respective work as fine art, bu they have different definitions of what fine art is.

And so the debate continues!