The document outlines significant technical innovations from the 19th century that transformed human perception in both science and art, highlighting pivotal inventions such as the phonograph, electric light bulb, and the first synthetic fiber. It discusses the advancements in photography, including the introduction of halftone processes and the work of major photographers like George Eastman and Edward Steichen who promoted photography as an art form. The emergence of pictorialism and the influence of movements like the decadent movement are also noted, showcasing a shift towards valuing aesthetic beauty in photography.

1. The technical innovations of the 19th century expanded the parameters of
human vision, in both science and art.
• 1877 - phonograph invented.
• 1879 - electric light bulb.
• 1882 - the recoil operated machine gun.
• 1883 - the first synthetic fiber (rayon).
• 1893 - the Ford car.
• 1885 - coated photographic paper invented.
• 1895 - Freud publishes his studies on hysteria, x rays
discovered, the radio telegraph invented (Marconi),
movie camera invented (Lumiere Bros.).
• 1903 - the magnetic recording of sound, the first voice
radio transmission, Wright brothers made their first
powered flight.
• 1905 - Albert Einstein formulated his theory of
relativity - the photon theory of light. His formula of
the law of mass energy wquivalence, E = Mc2,
ushered in the nuclear age.

2. 1870-1914: 2nd Industrial Revolution
• Vaious machinery was invented to
help production, such as the
combine and weaving loom.
• The halftone process made
reproducing photographs for
publication easier.
• The first halftone photographic
reproductions appeared in daily
newspapers in the 1890s. Images
could be directly reproduced
rather than through engravings.

3. Left: halftone dots. Right: How the human
eye would see this arrangement from a
sufficient distance.

4. William Warnecke, the Shooting of Mayor Gaynor, 1910

5. Portrait of Beatrice Tonnesen

6. Tonnesen, Mother and Children (“Cult of Motherhood” genre)

8. 1878 - dry plate invented.

9. Celluloid was first developed for photographic film in 1889. Now,
the emulsion is placed on an actual piece of film.

10. 1883: Hurter and Driffield begin studies in sensitometry - how photographic
materials respond to light and chemical processing.
• The stated it was “intolerable to practice an art whose principles were so little understood.
The production of a perfect picture by means of photography is an art; the production of a
technically perfect negative is a science.”
• Their discoveries let photographers make exposures and process film based on scientific
study instead of experience and luck.

11. George Eastman

12. The Kodak

15. Two jolly gentlemen, one with a Kodak in hand, 1889

30. William H. Martin, Taking Our Geese to Market, 1909.

31. William H. Martin, Great Sportfishing here, 1909.

32. William H. Martin, A Load of Extra Good Apples, 1900s.

34. Peter Henry Emerson, Pulling the Marsh-Hay, 1886 - theory of
Naturalistic Photography: a photograph should echo what the
human eye sees in nature.

35. Emerson, Marshman, 1880s.

36. Emerson, Toad in the Path, 1880s.

37. Emerson, 1880s.

38. Promoting Photography to the status of an art object was the goal of a
movement known as Pictorialism (mid 1880s - 1920s).
• Based on the belief that camera images could engage the feelings and senses.
• Grew out of the concept of Naturalism - and many photographers based their
work on Emerson’s techniques: soft focus, subdued tones, rural subjects.
Sergei Lobovikov, The Widow’s Pillow, c. 1900

39. The photographers who were advocates of Pictorialism felt that
photographs should be concerned with beauty rather than fact.
Robert Demachy, Étude

40. Demachy, Struggle, 1904

43. Edward Steichen, gum print, 1904

44. Demachy, gum print

45. John Dudley Johnson, Liverpool, gum print, 1900s.

46. Émile Joachim Constant Puyo, Summer, pigment print, 1903

47. Frederick Evans, Durham Cathedral, a member of the Linked Ring,
Evans favored ‘straight’ printing and chose to evoke feeling through
the use of light rahter than manipulation of materials.

48. Evans, Sea of Steps, 1903

49. Evans, Klemscott Manor

50. Steichen, Pond, 1898

51. George Davison, Onion Field, photogravure print, 1890

53. F. Holland Day, Youth in Forest, platinum print, 1907.

54. Day, St. Sebastian, 1907

55. Day, Crucifiction with Roman Soldiers, 1896

56. Day, Crucifiction Study #3

57. Day, Seven Last Words, 1898

58. F. Holland Day was influenced by the Decadent movement (also known as
dandyism). To be a dandy was to be fashionably dressed, highly
intellectual and withdrawn from conventional society.
Followers of the Decadent movement claimed that life should be viewed from an
aesthetic perspective (ie: beauty), and that art does not have to serve any moral,
political or utilitarian purpose.

59. Day, Chief, 1896.

60. Anne Brigman

61. Anne Brigman, Incantation, gelatin silver print, 1905

62. Brigman, Soul of the Blasted Pine, platinum print, 1908

65. Gertrude Kasebier, Portrait of Rose O’Neill, 1907

66. Kasebier, Portrait of Chester Beach, sculptor, 1907

67. Kasebier, Portrait of Alfred Stieglitz

68. Kasebier, Mrs. Ward and Baby, 1903

69. Kasebier, the Manger, 1899

70. Kasebier, the Picture Book, 1903

71. Kasebier, Blessed Art Thou Among Women, platinum print, 1899

72. Kasebier, Miss N. (Evelyn Nesbitt), platinum print, 1902

73. Photo Secession, formed 1902.
• To advance photography as applied to pictorial expression.
• To draw together those Americans practicing or otherwise interested in art.
• To hold from time to time, at varying places, exhibitions not necessarily limited to the
productions of the Photo-secession or to American work.

75. Demachy, gum print, from Camera Work

76. Steichen, Rodin in studio, gum print, 1906, from Camera Work

77. Clarence White, Morning, photogravure print,1908, from Camera Work

78. White, Ring Toss, gum print, 1899

79. John Singer Sargent, the Daughters of Edward Darley Bout, oil on canvas,1882

80. Edward Steichen, Flatiron,1904, gum bichromate over platinum print