Folia Historica 29. (Budapest, 2014)

I. TANULMÁNYOK - Tomsics Emőke: A fotográfia a reprodukció korában. Szempontok az 1850-60-as évek nyomtatott képeinek forráskritikájához

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE AGE OF REPRODUCTION

CONTRIBUTION S TO THE CRITIQUE OF SOURCES IN RELATION OF THE PRESS I LEU STRAT IONS OF THE 1850-60S

Summary

In the 1850s and 1860s the advent of photography and the transformations of the technologies of multiplication brought about a fundamental change of visual experience on a massive scale. Access to the products of the world of images became broadened, and a regular supply of visual information keeping pace with events led to the rise of shared visual experiences, and created the possibility of the formation of a shared visual memory culture.

The character of printed images was strongly determined by constraints arising from reproduction and multiplication practices. As images were in permanent demand, they were constantly on the move, and appeared and reappeared in countless forms, contexts and qualities. Reproductions of art works were published in the press, but images also tended to burst free from the confines of papers and were recognized as independent artistic creations.

In this period, photography itself was not mere illustration, but became such under the impact of circumstances also influencing its meaning. The intermediate phases necessary to prepare publication in print, the frequent re-use of pictures because of the high production costs, and the need for interpretation arising from tradition and the expectations of the audience, could all result in changes in the original meaning of the images created by photography. It is imperative to contemplate and understand these changes, and to explore the whole intricate network of variants of printed images, in order to penetrate that original meaning; mapping the migration and metamorphosis of images (a consequence of free access to them) is a precondition of reconstructing the visual universe of the past. The comparative study of the elements of visual culture through the juxtaposition of verbally and visually expressed experience enhances our understanding of the mental world of the age.

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