Turn of the Century Photography

During the turn of the century (1880-1920), things were changing in America in almost every genre imaginable. There were innovations in technology, cars, fashion, but one the thing that really caught my eye was art. Photography in particular. There were innovations in cameras, film, and there was also controversy over whether photography was an art. All of these help shape America in this rapidly changing time period.

Something that was innovative in this time period was the invention of the Kodak hand held camera, made by George Eastman. Eastman got started in photography at the age of 26. In a biography written about him, it says that he would hang around John H. Kent's studio, who was a portrait photographer. This is where Eastman gained his love for photography. As he got more involved with it, he had two mentors that helped him. Their names were George Monroe, and George B. Selden. Eastman learned the basics of photography from them, and decided he wanted to make a living off of it. Eastman formed a love for photography, and he expanded his range of techniques from wet-plate, to dry plate, and eventually colored photographs. Eastman saw photography as a leisure/past time, and thought that people actually making a living off of this are taken for granted. As Eastman got older he started to advance photography. He took the first pictures with a shutter camera in a garden. Eastman wanted to make everyone a photographer, but he thought only pros could understand the technique of wet-plate. Eastman started a company and called it Kodak where the first hand held camera was made. He charged $25 a camera. Although this was great for national and international enterprises because of the high demand for cameras, it lead to the decline of quality of professional work. Because of everyone having a camera photography started to be seen as a recording device. There was no artistic thought behind the average person snapping a picture of his/her family. Because there were thousands of photographers and there were millions of photographs, the quality of a professionals work declined. The invention of the everyday, amateur camera started the debate over whether photography was an art or simply a recording device.

This debate brought Alfred Stieglitz into the picture. He was an advocate for photography as an art form and led groups in this controversy, trying to get verification for photography. Stieglitz is credited with making photography viewed as art. He led the group Photo-Secession, which was a group of photographers which was used to enhance the movement. He used the a form of photography called pictorialism to enhance the artistic aspect of photography. He was against photography as a narrative and just composite printing. Stieglitz was backed by Peter Henry Emerson who wrote an article in Amateur Photographer in 1886 called "Photography a Pictorial Art". With the help from other photographers he got photography to be seen by all people as an art form. In the 1890s the Albright Gallery in Buffalo added 15 photos from Stieglitz 291 Gallery. This was the first time photography was seen as an art form worthy of being put in a Museum.

The use of pictorialism was a major tribute to photography being art. Pictorialism was Stieglitz obsession and profession. Although pictorialism does not have a straight definition, it is when the photographer manipulates the photo in ways to create a new image. It was used as a painterly facade to shows the mediums natural tonal variation and to ad abstraction. Pictorialists tried to use the camera as a painter would with a paint brush giving the image realistic representation.  Pictorialists were the leaders of the movement of photography being an art. Because of their views of photography they thought handheld cameras were an insult to the practice of photography. Most pictorialists ambitions were to make photography a fine art.

The movement of photography becoming art started when photographers were only seen as people that record a memory. Although the Kodak camera did help with was enterprises in America and internationally, it did promote the view of photography as a recording device. Pictorialism was started to emphasize the creativity and vision that goes behind a photo. The pictorialists, especially Stieglitz pushed for people to except photography as an art. With thanks to Stieglitz and others, photography is now viewed highly as a medium for critical art.



Online Book: Aspects of Photography in, or as Conceptual Art - This was a good scholarly site. It was long but it was helpful because of the advanced views of art.


Barbizon School: Movements in Late Nineteenth Century Art- I didn't find a lot of information from this site, but it did expand my knowledge on photography.


Harvard Gazette: When Photography became an Art -This was good because if came from a writer from Harvard.


The J. Paul Getty Museum: Photography Overview and Vocabulary- I looked at this site first and it gave me great background knowledge on photography.


George Eastman- A Biography- This was helpful because Eastman had such a huge role in the transformation of photography


The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Pictorialism in America - I found so much great information on pictorialism in this site.

Example of Pictorialism

First Kodak Camera Ad

George Eastman

Alfred Steiglitz