Photography, from its beginnings, has been identified by its versatility. It has also taken a role in consent technological innovations resulting into enormous differences in the attributes of an image attributes. This approach began with daguerreotypes to the printed versions from the negative and progressed to plate glass film and later from analog to digital. Photography underwent a series of extraordinary changes in the 20th century. According to Meggs and Alston, the new typography focused more on objective communication and majorly concerned with the machine production. In the 20th century, the camera was considered an essential tool for producing images.
“The role of photography as a graphic communications tool was expanded by Swiss designer/photographer Herbert Matter.” (Meggs and Alston 84)
The interest of Matter in photography and design grew while studying painting in Paris where he worked as a typographic designer and photographer in the company of other experts such as Fernand Leger and Cassandre.
The early 20th century made use of pictorialism and straight photography. This art developed through the influence of painting whereby the photographers made handmade, subjective images with the aim of advancing photographers as the legitimate form of art. This medium changed after the world war 1 with the establishment of the photography’s first modern voice. The use of technological approach made the work of artists and photography at large incredibly appealing. The camera technology of reproducing images by mechanical means made the process fast and most modern as well as the most relevant method of visual representation in the era of post WW1 (Gombrich and Gombrich 126). The use of technology provided an advanced way of image making and offered the opportunity to change the paradigms of both representation and vision.
Photo-graphics and postmodern photography is another fundamental approach utilized in the 20th century. The artistic avant-garde of 1950-1960s changed photography into arrays of new visual forms. Some photographers adopted this medium in documenting performances as well as illustrating ideas.
In summary, the 20th century experienced a revolutionary in photography, and this art was adopted as the primary form of language. Museums are crowded by these photographs to preserve the history. Modern technologies have immensely transformed the perception of the world and the ability to communicate.
Works cited
Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis. Meggs' history of graphic design. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
Gombrich, Ernst Hans, and E. H. Gombrich. The story of art. Vol. 12. London: Phaidon, 1995.
