Pictorialism - our history

by Editor Colin Dixon
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 9th of August 2024

For decades after its invention in 1830, photography was used mainly for producing scientific and representational images, and was the preserve of a wealthy elite. The arrival of the Kodak Camera changed this.

In 1888 George Eastman introduced the first handheld amateur camera - the Kodak camera. It was marketed with the slogan "You press the button; we do the rest." The camera was pre-loaded with a roll of film that produced about 100 x 2.5" round picture exposures, and it could easily be carried and handheld during its operation. At first after all of the shots on the film were exposed, you gave the camera and film back to Kodak to produce your images. Hence the birth of Pictorialism. The impact of this change was enormous. Suddenly almost anyone could take a photograph, and within the span of a few years photography became one of the biggest fads in the world. Now more people had access to cameras and the birth of using photography as an art form rather than a record began.

'September Haze' by Daniel Castonguay

Pictorialists were photographers that approached the camera as a tool, like the paintbrush or chisel, and could be used to make an artistic statement. Most importantly, they wanted their photographs to be enhanced by the beauty of subject matter, tonality and composition rather than creating just an accurate visual record. The movement began in England but moved to New York and around the world. The art of photography was born and we are surrounded by it now here on 1X.

Typically, a pictorial photograph had a soft focus, was printed in one or more colours other than pure black and white (ranging from warm brown to deep blue). For the Pictorialist, a photograph, just like a painting, drawing or engraving was a way of projecting an emotional intent into the viewer’s realm of imagination.

Many of the strongest voices that championed pictorialism at its beginning were a new generation of amateur photographers. In contrast to its meaning today, the word "amateur" held a different connotation in the discussions of that time. Rather than suggesting an inexperienced novice, the word characterized someone who strived for artistic excellence and a freedom from rigid academic influence. An amateur was seen as someone who could break the rules because he or she was not bound by the then rigid rules set by long-established photography organizations like the Royal Photographic Society - something that is still alive today in many of us including myself.

Clarence H. "White Morning"1908. Alice Broughton "Dawn" 1909

Paul Haviland “Doris Keane 1912. Clarence H. White and Alfred Stieglitz "Torso"1907

Jane Reece" Spaces" 1922 Edward Steichen, "Flatiron Building" 1904

Pictorialism gradually declined in popularity after 1920, although it did not fade until the end of World War II. During this period the new style of photography, Modernism, became popular.

But the Artistic photography we see today, especially on 1X, owes a lot to the pictorialists and we follow in their wake of creativity. We see in a lot of our work, that we have been handed down ideas and a love of artistic photography by these people in our past and which helped to begin this journey for us.