Art for Industry's Sake: Halftone Technology, Mass Photography and the Social Transformation of American Print Culture, 1880-1920

This dissertation claims that the origins of the modern mass media can be traced to the industrial transformations that halftone technology and the techniques of mass photography wrought upon the commerce and culture of American print capitalism between 1880 and 1920. Chapter One explores the development of the technology of mass photography by Frederick Ives, the inventor of halftone, and contrasts Ives's achievements with those of George Eastman, the inventor of the Kodak. Chapter Two investigates the causes and consequences of the ten-cent magazine revolution of the 1890s, which saw magazine prices drop and rates of circulation grow as a result of the transformation of American publishing economy into an advertising-subsidized industry. Chapter Three examines the new kinds of employment that halftone technology brought into being, including photoengraving, commercial photography, and professional modeling, and considers some of the ethical and legal issues that were raised by this work. Chapter Four outlines the design principles of the art of mass photography (realism, montage, and photo-retouching), and considers the wider social, cultural, and historical implications of the halftone revolution as they were expressed by the new medium's pioneers at the turn of the century. The epilogue traces the technological, social, and cultural development of the mass photography up to the present day and concludes that even though the medium of mass photography has undergone several technological transformations over the course of the 20th Century--from wirephoto, to television, to World Wide Web--the underlying artistic theories and commercial practices that define the medium have barely changed at all.