PHOTOGRAPHY AND TYPOGRAPHY
The artistic value of photography has been argued about ever since it was
invented. First it was the painters. until they realized that it presented no
threat to them. To this day, the art historians argue about some of the prob
lems which photography has thrown up. Book craftsmen still deny photog
raphy the right to form any part of a "beautiful book." They base their
objection on the alleged aesthetic dichotomy between the purely graphic
and material form of type and the more visibly "plastic" but materially
weaker halftone b�ock. They see the greatest importance in the outer
appearance of both printing surfaces. and find the halftone block not
"bookish." Their objection is really not valid. since the halftone block is
composed of many little raised dots, to which type is in fact related.
All these theories. however. especially after the war. have been unable to
stop the unique triumphal progress of photography into book production.
Its greatest purely practical advantage is that by a simple mechanical
method -certainly easier than any manual method - a true reproduction
of an object can be obtained. The photograph has become such a remark
able characteristic of our age that it is now impossible to imagine its non
existence. The picture-hunger of modern man is satisfied today chiefly by
photo-illustrated newspapers and magazines; and advertising, especially in
the USA, including more and more the poster, is making ever-increasing
use of photography. The great demand for good photography has advanced
photographic technology and art to an extraordinary degree: in France and
America there are fashion and advertising photographers who surpass
many painters in quality (Paris: Paul Outerbridge. O'Neill. Hoyningen
Huene. Scaioni. Luigi Diaz; America: Sheeler. Baron de Meyer. Ralph
Steiner. Ellis. and others). The work of the mostly anonymous photographic
reporters is of the highest standard: their pictures. not least in purely pho
tographic terms. often give more pleasure than the allegedly artistic prints
of professional portrait photographers and amateurs.
It would be absolutely impossible today to satisfy the enormous demand for
printed illustrations with drawings or paintings. There would be neither
enough artists of quality to produce them. nor time for their creation and
reproduction. Without photography we would never know very much of
what is happening in the world today. Such an extraordinary consumption
could never be satisfied except by mechanical means. General social con
ditions have changed considerably since the middle of the 19 th century,
the number of consumers has grown enormously, the spread of European
urban culture has greatly increased, all means of communication have
advanced. and these changes demand up-to-date processes. The medieval
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