185
Further Reading
Greenough, Sarah, “Of Charming Glens, Graceful Glades, and
Frowning Cliffs’: The Economic Incentives, Social Induce-
ments, and Aesthetic Issues of American Pictorial Photog-
raphy, 1880–1902,” in Photography in Nineteenth-Century
America, ed. Martha A. Sandweiss. Fort Worth, TX: Amon
Carter Musem, 1991).
Griffi n, Michael. Amateur Photography and Pictorial Aesthetics:
Infl uences of Organization and Industry on Cultural Produc-
tion. Phd. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1987.
Sternberger, Paul Spencer. Between Amateur and Aesthete: The
Legitimization of Photography as Art in America, 1880–1900.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2001.
Brayer, Elizabeth. George Eastman. Baltimore: John Hopkins
University Press, 1996.
BOOKS AND MANUALS ABOUT
PHOTOGRAPHY: 1890s
The most important development to affect photographic
publications in the 1890s was an intensifi cation of dis-
cussion and debate around photography as art. Amateur
associations and groups had grown tremendously during
the 1880s, as technological changes opened photography
to more practitioners. In the 1890s, new groups focused
on one issue—the aesthetic potential of photography—
were established in major European cities. One of the
fi rst of these groups, the Photo Club de Paris had been
established in 1888, specifi cally separating their goals
and ambitions from those of amateur clubs already in
existence. Another milestone, and symptomatic of the
shift, was the International Ausstellung Kunstlerische
Photographie organized by the Club der Amateur
Photographen in Vienna in 1891, the fi rst international
exhibition limited to just artistic photography. Shortly
afterwards the Brotherhood of the Linked Ring, an
international group of photographers protesting the lax
standards of the Photographic Society of Great Britain
exhibitions, formed in England. Eventually major cit-
ies in England, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria and
the United States had its own photography group that
aspired to elevate the creative potential of photography.
An international artistic photography movement with
ties to avant-garde art and literary groups took off in the
1890s, and this activity generated numerous publica-
tions, including the record of exhibitions, manuals on
new processes and aesthetic trends, and new periodical
titles devoted to artistic photography.
Chief among these publications were salon catalogs,
many illustrated with fi nely printed photogravures on
special papers. The 1894 Première Exposition d’Art
Photographique of the Photo-Club de Paris had an sub-
stantial accompanying catalogue that contained 56 pho-
togravure plates and an introduction by Armand Dayot,
Inspecteur des Beaux-Arts that extolled photography’s
potential as an art form and compared the spirit of the
works to paintings. Nach der Natur: Photogravüren
nach Originalaufnahmen von amateurphotographen
(Berlin, 1896), the catalog of a competition sponsored
by the Berlin Photographische Gesellschaft also featured
fi ne reproductions. The Association Belge de Photog-
raphie began focusing on art photography in the 1890s,
publishing albums of prints conjunction with their spe-
cial exhibitions. A juried exhibition took place at the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1898, and
the Catalogue of the Philadelphia Photographic Salon
commemorates the event which is considered the fi rst
exclusively fi ne art photography exhibition in the United
States. Even Eastman Kodak Company found reason
to associate with the movement and published Kodak
Portfolio: A Souvenir of the Eastman Photographic
Exhibition 1897: A Collection of Kodak Film Pictures
by Eminent Photographers (London: Eastman Photo-
graphic Materials Co., 1897), which contains original
photogravures from negatives on Kodak fi lm by J. Craig
Annan, H. P. Robinson, Francis Benjamin Johnston and
other well known photographers. This explosion of pub-
lishing extended to clubs outside the large metropolitan
centers as well, and their annual exhibitions usually
have at the very least some sort of modest check-list of
participants and their works.
Many associations and clubs published journals,
which provided the usual mix of news of people and
events, articles on technical matters, and print critiques.
Many also included beautifully printed reproductions,
often in photogravure, of the newest work. The fi nest of
these illustrated publications included Die Kunst in der
Photograhie (Berlin: Verlag von Julius Becker, 1897–
1908) edited by Franz Goerke; L’Art Photographique
(Paris: Georges Carré et Naud, 1899–1900); Wiener
Photographische Blatter (1894–1898), organ of the
Wiener Camera Club; and Photographische Rundschau
(Halle: Wilhelm Knapp, 1887-–1903) representing both
Austrian and German interests, which expanded cover-
age to include aesthetic issues. From Belgium came
Sentiment d’art en photographie (Bruxelles: Xavier
Havermans, 1893–?), featuring work chosen from a
monthly contest. In the United States, the Camera Club
of New York began publishing Camera Notes (New
York: Camera Club, 1897–1903), edited by a committee
headed by Alfred Stieglitz, the most infl uential fi gure in
the art photography movement in the United States. An-
other American title, Photo-Era (Boston, 1898–1932 ),
edited by Juan C. Abel, tried to educate Americans about
artistic matters with exhibition reviews, print critiques
and high-quality reproductions. Not quite as luxurious,
but supplying important information and articles on
relevant issues to art photographers were Bulletin du
Photo-Club de Paris (Paris: The Club, 1892–1902), the
British Photogram (London: Dawbarn and Ward, 1894–BOOKS AND MANUALS ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY: 1890s