PhotoMatrixProject

February–May 2024

#lecture series

The PhotoMatrix project (Institute of Art History of the CAS, Prague), organizes four talks of the Collegium Historiae Artium lecture series:

14 February 2024
Meghan Forbes (independent scholar, New York, PhotoMatrix project collaborator)
"Devětsil and the Aura of Mechanical Reproducibility"

28 February 2024
Camilla Balbi (IAH CAS, PhotoMatrix project researcher)
"A Forgotten Media Interest: Erwin Panofsky and Photography"

24 April 2024
Anthony Hamber (independent photographic historian, London)
"The 1840s: Transformations in Reprographics"

15 May 2024
Kim Timby (École du Louvre, Paris)
"Bringing Home the Museum: The Colour Turn in Art Reproduction in the Mid-Twentieth Century"

Venue: Institute of Art History of the CAS, Prague, Husova 4, general meeting room (117), 1st floor

Time: 4:30 PM CET

For the Zoom link, please contact us at: masterova@udu.cas.cz

2024-05-15

#invited lecture

Color art reproduction made newspaper headlines in France circa 1950. These vivid photographs of artworks suddenly appeared to be everywhere, most notably in books and as large-format images for wall display. It had long been possible to photograph in color. However, I will argue that this kind of photography became "new" around the time of World War II because that was when it started to circulate in mass-market, printed form. The commercial success of color art reproduction was underpinned by a real demand for more naturalistic renditions—of paintings, in particular—but also by promotion by esteemed intellectual leaders who saw it as a way to democratize great masterpieces. This innovative imagery thus had important cultural repercussions, sparking a public conversation of unprecedented proportions about the value of art in modern society.

The invited lecture took place on 15 May 2024 as part of the Photomechanical talks within the Collegium Historiae Artium lecture series at the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences. It was introduced by Dr. Fedora Parkmann (IAH CAS).

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2024-04-24

#invited lecture

In January 1839, when the photographic processes of Daguerre and Talbot were announced, there was an existing, mature, and extensive printing and reprographics industry in all industrialised countries. The most significant printing process was that of lithography. Almost immediately there was a wave of experimentation in developing a photomechanical process. Those experimenters were primarily scientists and did not form part of the existing reprographics industries. Photographic historians have tended to repeat the same list of experimenters, primarily from France, Austria, and the United Kingdom. Emerging evidence suggests that during the 1840s—described as a comparative “gap” in scholarly research—photomechanical experimentation was in fact more widespread. This paper examines the speed of the distribution of news of Daguerre’s and Talbot’s processes and discusses a number of the photomechanical experiments that followed. A key consideration examined is why the contemporary printing and reprographics industries did not adopt photography during the 1840s to develop commercial photomechanical processes and accompanying services. A short case study underlines how one individual, with much experience in transfer lithography, played a crucial role in the late 1850s in the development of photozincography at the UK’s national cartographic agency (Ordnance Survey).

The invited lecture took place on 24 April 2024 as part of the Photomechanical talks within the Collegium Historiae Artium lecture series at the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences. It was introduced by Dr. Petra Trnková (IAH CAS). The video is a Zoom recording.

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2024-02-28

#invited lecture

This talk by Dr. Camilla Balbi delved into the persona of Erwin Panofsky, one of the most important art historians of the last century, from a new, mediological perspective. Drawing from Balbi’s forthcoming book, “Erwin Panofsky and Modernity: Painting, Photography and Film” (2024, Mimesis, Milano), the discussion will focus on Panofsky's exploration of the photographic medium. A remarkable aspect of this analysis lies in Panofsky's efforts to understand the medium beyond its artistic realm. The pages devoted to the interplay between painting and photography extend to medial considerations of their social applications, be they scientific or museological. This exploration navigated the urgent theoretical debates of the time, engaging in dialogue with renowned personalities such as Max Sauerlandt, Siegfried Kracauer, and Heinrich Schwarz. The lecture unfolds the historical and theoretical layers in Panofsky's writings on photography. It deals with the interplay between originality and reproduction and the nexus between knowledge and visualization. Finally, the lecture explores the impact of Panofsky's exploration of photographic technique on the birth of iconology, revealing a surprising connection between his reflections and the ethos of contemporary Bildwissenschaft.

The invited lecture took place on 28 February 2024 as part of the Photomechanical talks within the Collegium Historiae Artium lecture series at the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences. It was introduced by Dr. Katarína Mašterová (IAH CAS). The video is a Zoom recording.

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2024-02-14

#invited lecture

This talk by Dr. Meghan Forbes presented a popular topic from a new angle, turning once again to the books and magazines made by the interwar Czechoslovak avant-garde, but with a view towards how they were produced. Drawing on Forbes’s forthcoming book manuscript, Technologies for the Revolution: The Czech Avant-Garde in Print (2025, Artefactum and Karolinum University Press), the talk introduced advancing forms of print technology — including letterpress, lithography, and photomechanical image-making — that Devětsil utilized to create an impressive trove of printed matter. By offering insights into the modes of mechanical reproduction available in the 1920s, the necessary collaborations with print professionals, and the economy of distribution, Dr. Forbes aims with her work to bring new, material meaning to the theoretical and artistic concepts for which Devětsil is already so well known, such as the picture poem and Poetism.

The invited lecture took place on 14 February 2024 as part of the Photomechanical talks within the Collegium Historiae Artium lecture series at the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences. It was introduced by Dr. Hana Buddeus (IAH CAS). The video is a Zoom recording.

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2024-11-26

#chapter in an edited volume

The case study examines a terracotta sculpture titled Seated Girl, introduced in 1935 by Krásná jizba of Družstevní práce. It also delves into its promotion through photographs by Josef Sudek. Created by Břetislav Benda, the statuette raises questions about the reception of art in different contexts—specifically, the intimacy of the home versus the public space of an art museum or gallery. The sculpture’s design aimed to appeal to a broad audience of potential buyers while upholding the standards of high-quality art. In Seated Girl, a tension emerges between the period’s ideals of "art for everyone" and the aesthetic aspirations of modern art.

Hana Buddeus – Mariana Kubištová, "Sedící dívka. Umění v bytě", in: Kateřina Piorecká - Marie Brunová - Lukáš Holeček - Martin Lukáš (eds.), Gesto a skutečnost. Umění v meziválečném Československu, vol. 1. Obyčejný život [Gesture and Reality. Art in Interwar Czechoslovakia. vol. 1. Ordinary Life], Praha: Academia 2024, pp. 423-432.

2024-11-26

#chapter in an edited volume

In 1928, the jubilee year marking the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, the publishing house Družstevní práce (Cooperative Work) planned to release a special album dedicated to the Cathedral of St. Vitus in Prague. At that time, the cathedral was undergoing extensive completion work and was set to be opened to the public in 1929, coinciding with the millennium of St. Wenceslas's martyrdom. Although relations between the state and the Catholic Church were strained at the time, the cathedral became a national symbol. The album included fifteen original bromo-silver photographs by Josef Sudek. He was recommended to the director of the publishing house, Václav Poláček, by painter Emanuel Frinta, who also created the album's graphic design. The celebratory, poetic foreword was penned by the Catholic author Jaroslav Durych. Sudek, an emerging professional photographer at the time, compiled the album from his photographs of the cathedral which he had been taking "for himself" from 1924 onwards. These images not only reflect his professional approach and genuine fascination but also showcase his delicate artistic style and contemporary interest in genre scenes. Anna Fárová described the album as "majestic and grandiose, a truly spiritual and patriotic collection." Despite Durych's acclaimed poetic introduction, it is the photographs themselves that have emerged as a modern tool for promoting this traditional religious monument, appropriated by the nation. The album was published as a limited collector's edition, with only 120 copies printed. However, it reached a much wider audience because individual photographs were displayed in the Cooperative Work’s booth at the Exhibition of Contemporary Culture in Brno and published in contemporary magazines such as Světozor and the Sunday supplement to Prager Presse.

Kataría Mašterová, "Svatý Vít / Saint Guy: Patnáct fotografií / Quinze photographies. Exkluzivní fotografické album za výrobní cenu", in: Kateřina Piorecká - Marie Brunová - Lukáš Holeček - Martin Lukáš (eds.), Gesto a skutečnost. Umění v meziválečném Československu, vol. 1. Obyčejný život [Gesture and Reality. Art in Interwar Czechoslovakia. vol. 1. Ordinary Life], Praha: Academia 2024, pp. 208–222.

2024-06-19

#academic journal paper

Historians have now commonly acknowledged how the photographic atlas, in its many forms – perhaps the most celebrated being Aby Warbug’s Atlas Mnemosyne – had been employed in Germany during the years of the Weimar Republic as an extraordinary epistemological device to conduct historical, political, psychological and more broadly culturological investigations. And yet, some declinations of the device-atlas still remain singularly unstudied. This is the case with Das Frauengesicht der Gegenwart (The Face of the Women of the Present), the subject of the proposed contribution. Published in 1930 by the art historian Lothar Brieger, shortly before racial laws forced him to leave Germany, this photographic book (71 pages out of 135 are photographic plates) was realized with the aim of celebrating female self-affirmation against the conservative tendencies that were beginning to spread in the ascendant National Socialist society, constituting perhaps the most intense, and the last, representation of the Neue Frau in the German context. In the article, a dual perspective will be adopted. On the one hand, Brieger’s thought will be analyzed in dialogue with the main theories of art and photography of his time. On the other hand, the photographs in the book themselves will also be considered separately from their theoretical framework, investigating their photomechanical lives, and the view of the “modern woman” proposed by their, long forgotten, material authors.

Camilla Balbi, Lothar Brieger’s Das Frauengesicht der Gegenwart (1930): A Twofold Perspective on Women’s Photography in the Weimar Republic, Piano B. Arti et culture visive, vol. 8, no. 1, 2023, Storia, teoria e pratiche femministe nell’arte del XX secolo, edited by Cristina Casero and Raffaella Perna, pp. 1–23.

URL: https://pianob.unibo.it/article/view/19506/17892, https://pianob.unibo.it/issue/view/1272

2023-11-06

#academic journal paper

Contemporary computer vision software represents an incredible opportunity for both art history researchers and museum practitioners: it is a tool through which images can be described, organized, studied and shared. In this process—the one in which a computer vision software operates over a database of art history images—there are however a variety of dynamics at play. They have to do with theoretical assumptions, historical categories, technological constraints and ideological stances: a set of premises which calls for a closer methodological survey of the process. We propose an account which uses art theory and visual culture studies to scrutinize the different steps and activities which constitute the computer vision analysis: after all, the study of images has historically been a prerogative of art historians. Our intuition is that art images databases somehow provide a “protected environment” in which to observe how old problems, inherent to the discipline, interact with new problems created by the way we consume and design software. The three levels at which we will try to detect biased stances answer three different questions. Which images are we talking about? Which research questions are we asking? Which linguistic and political logics are at play? In order to do so, we will begin the discussion by debunking the myth of a simple parallelism between these new forms of conceptualizing the real and traditional ones, challenging Manovich’s (1999) use of Panofsky’s symbolic form (1927) as a hermeneutic of the database. We will show instead how the art-database logic somehow sticks to the traditional art historical narrative, while at the same time producing new kinds of biases. Then, we will focus on how this technology actually works, and which kind of art historical thought lays behind the algorithm. Our guess is that the praxis of this software is closer to the connoisseurship than to the art historical research. Thirdly, we will analyze the labeling process through which computer vision software creates descriptive metadata of the images in question, using Mitchell’s critical iconology (1994) account to problematize the strong ideological and political stance behind the image-text relationship. Throughout the discourse, and especially in the final paragraph, we will address the transparency and evaluation standards which need to be defined in order to allow a strict methodological approach to guard and guide the process, at times lacking both in the cultural sector and in the wider visual field. What will emerge is an account of computer vision software and processes which appear to be far from ‘neutral’ or ‘objective’ in their extremely layered functioning, built in the midst of diverse stakeholders’ interests and procedural false steps. Granted that these technologies are however contributing to build the visual culture of our time, we detect a series of overlooked assumptions along the way through the lenses of art theory, hoping to contribute to the design of a clearer view.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, digital archives, image, art, ideology

Camilla Balbi and Anna Calise, The (theoretical) Elephant in the Room. Overlooked Assumptions in Computer Vision Analysis of Art Images, Signata [En ligne], 14 | 2023.
URL : http://journals.openedition.org/signata/4757
DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/signata.4757

2023-05-01

#book chapter

The Eiffel Tower, History of a Printing-Block: An Avant-garde’s Favourite Between France and Czechoslovakia

This book chapter traces the successive appearances of an aerial view of the Eiffel Tower in French and Czech publications between 1909 and 1928. The image proved particularly inspiring to the avant-garde as it switched contexts from Karel Teige and Le Corbusier’s publications to the paintings of Robert Delaunay. By pointing out the changes in formal adjustment and meaning that the image underwent, this case study provides a measure of the circulation of photo-reproductions within avant-garde networks and their repercussions in artistic work.

Keywords: Eiffel Tower, photography, Karel Teige, Le Corbusier, Robert Delaunay, photographic reproduction

Fedora Parkmann, "La Tour Eiffel, ou l’histoire d’un cliché : une image-fétiche de l’avant-garde entre France et Tchécoslovaquie", in Léa Saint-Raymond (ed.), La circulation des images en Europe, Paris: Mare & Martin, 2023, pp. 189–202, ISBN 978-2-36222-085-2.

2023-08-26

#academic journal paper

This paper addresses geographical displacement, elsewhereness, as a fundamental experience in early twentieth-century culture. It examines its aesthetic and epistemological consequences in the specific context of German-Jewish women's photography created in pre-state Israel during the 1930s. The article focuses on photographs taken during the Palestine sojourns of two prominent photographers from the Weimar Republic: Marianne Breslauer and Ellen Auerbach. The two moved not only through geographical locations, but also through intersecting imaginaries, ethno-religious and gender identities on the margins of discourses and political systems: as women, as Jews, and as photographers. The article explores these balances at a delicate historical juncture: when a distant spiritual homeland slowly becomes a complex territory for very complicated immigration, and travel photography turns into exile photography. The resulting photographs exist within a dynamic interplay between ancient collective memories of the “Land of the Bible” and the modernist iconographies associated with Zionist nation-building, the enchanted gaze towards the Arab East, and a German training altered by displacement. Finally, from a theoretical perspective, the study examines how the displacement of the two photographers partially decentered their modernist background, expanding the dimensions of the modernist canon to include nomadism, memory, and longing. 


Keywords: Ellen Auerbach, Marianne Breslauer, Weimar Photography, exile, Palestine

Camilla Balbi, “Shifting Paradigms — Mexico in color: Ellen Auerbach’s exile photography”, Itinera, no. 23: Colour: Photography, Image, Reality / Aesthetics, Technique and Emotion, 2022, pp. 115–130, ISSN 2039-9251.

The panel within the 36th CIHA (Comité International d'Histoire de l'Art) World Congress proposed by Fedora Parkmann, Katarína Mašterová and Hana Buddeus. The theme of the congress is “Matter Materiality”.

23 – 28 June 2024, Lyon, France

Abstract of the Panel

Photomechanical prints are rarely considered as objects in their own right. They tend to be relegated to the role of invisible intermediaries that provide access to various types of photographic images, whether artistic or informational. Previous research on the history of photomechanical printing technologies has revealed how crucial these inventions were in establishing photography as the primary means of visual communication in the 20th century. Moreover, the recent material turn in photography studies has shifted the focus from aesthetics and subject matter of photographs to their materiality, from art historical interpretation to the study of the uses, circulation, and social contexts of photographic objects. This panel aims to expand our knowledge of photomechanical prints and to challenge their perceived transparency by exploring their material appearances and social agency. To what extent did the materiality of photomechanical prints influence their social uses? How did the dissemination of photomechanical prints in various formats – books, journals, postcards, or decorative objects – serve art, culture, commerce, or science? These questions are all the more topical today because many such documents are now available in digital form, radically changing the way we perceive and study them. The social impact of photomechanical prints will be studied from the first inventions to the boom of the halftone and other processes used in the 20th century.

We especially welcome interdisciplinary and cross-cultural contributions that investigate photomechanical prints in relation to regions and topics previously regarded as marginal in art history. Potential papers will be organized around the following aspects of photomechanical printing:

1) materials and formats,

2) transregional communication,

3) their role in shaping knowledge,

4) the construction of identities.

Call for Papers

The call for papers has been closed by 1 October 2023.

Program of the Panel

The panel will take place on Tuesday, 25 June 2025 at the Salle Rhône 3B.

Session 1 – 14:00-15:30 (link)

Sandra Szir, The Photomechanical Reproduction and the Social and Technological Construction of a Mass Image: The Illustrated Periodical Press in Argentina 1900

Marie Blanc, For you from Czechoslovakia (1961-1992): Identity, Photo-Textual Strategies and Photomechanical Reproductions in the Visual Discourse of Tourism

Laura Truxa, LIFE Magazine's Promotional Materials Aimed at Advertisers: An Example of Editorial Photography's Alternative Materialities

Benjamin Levy, Hiding in Plain Sight: Tracing the Photographic Halftone's Material Aesthetic

Session 2 – 16:00-17:30 (link)

Janet Marquardt, Materiality in the Zodiaque Photographs of Romanesque Art

Karen Fraser, Photomechanical Printing and Materiality in the Illustrated Books of Ogawa Kazumasa

Susan Laxton, Surrealist Photomontage and Mass Media Materiality

Closing Discussion

The full program of the congress can be found at https://www.cihalyon2024.fr/en/program/scientific-program

Venue

Centre de Congrès de Lyon
50 Quai Charles de Gaulle
69006 Lyon, France

2023-05-20

#technology workshop

The Matrix project team took part in a specialized workshop on print production in the last century. The showcase of techniques and machines used was prepared by a former teacher, printmaker, and specialist in printing technology Mr. Jaroslav Čermák. The workshop took place at the College of Graphics and Secondary Technical School of Graphics (the Prague Graphic School) and the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

2024-11-07

#conference talk

Founded in 1922 in Prague, the Družstevní práce (DP) cooperative sought to democratize culture by offering well-designed and affordable publications. Graphic designer Ladislav Sutnar shaped DP’s distinct visual identity, embedding it with modern style. This study focuses on DP's annual desk calendars, produced from 1931 to 1944 to address the limited availability of Czech art reproductions. These calendars sparked cultural debate, particularly over their role in promoting contemporary art to DP members. Practical yet culturally significant, the calendars became popular gifts, contributing to DP’s role in distributing art to a broad audience. This paper, inspired by material culture studies, examines the calendars as cultural artifacts, focusing on their production and the role of photomechanical prints in shaping art distribution and cultural identity.

Conference talk by Hana Buddeus, “Beautiful, Exquisite Gift. Calendars by DP (1931-1944)”, Art History As a Gift conference, Berlin, 7-9 November 2024.

2024-10-17

#conference talk

In ReD, a leading illustrated magazine of the Prague interwar avant-garde, various visual materials are skillfully combined. Aerial photography, movie stills, typography and photomontages are integrated through the vision of Karel Teige, the editor of the magazine, which was published by the Devětsil group from 1927 to 1931. The aim of this paper is to reveal the emancipatory potential of an approach rooted in the materiality of photomechanical reproductions by uncovering two different stories that converged on a double-sided page of the 1929 ReD magazine. What narratives underlie an X-ray photograph of a fish and a night photograph of fireworks? How were these images acquired for the magazine and why? By telling the specific story of these particular pictures, we aim to illuminate and “liberate” subjectivities, actors and networks that have been previously neglected by art historical narratives. As a result, we see a medical image not as an anonymous picture appropriated at some point by László Moholy-Nagy, but as produced in a laboratory for the scientific education of women in Germany. And, tracing the path of the fireworks image entails uncovering the significant presence of Aenne Biermann, a German Jewish photographer, in Czech periodicals of the late 1920s, a regular contributor who has been overlooked until now.

Conference talk by Camilla Balbi and Hana Buddeus, “The Emancipatory Power of Reproductions: Neglected Narratives of Avant-Garde Photography”, ASEEES (Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies) Virtual Convention, Boston, USA – online participation, 17–18 October 2024.

2024-09-14

#conference talk

This talk was presented in the “Digital Art History” section of the Congress. It aimed to assess what digital and quantitative approaches can bring to art history. Digital art history has been criticized for its use of canonical datasets (Bishop, 2018) or for its over-reliance on traditional art historical approaches (Wasiliewska, 2023). To address these issues, the Photomatrix project focuses on a relatively new source for art history – photomechanical reproductions of art – rather than artworks, and seeks ways to unlock their potential through the use of computational tools. Focusing on Czech, French, German and Russian art magazines of the first half of the twentieth century, the project asks what new narratives of art emerge when we look at this period through the lens of reproductions printed in contemporary art magazines. This involves not only statistically determining what art appeared in these periodicals, but also examining how and by whom art was presented and circulated across different countries through photomechanical reproductions. Such a perspective can contribute to a better understanding of how the art historical canon is constructed. In this paper, we discussed our approach to developing the database and the digital tools we use (image extraction, image matching, caption analysis), explaining how they can change our view of the art historical canon, but also focusing on their blind spots and weaknesses.

Conference talk, Fedora Parkmann & Viktorie Vítů, Fotomechanické reprodukce uměleckých děl v digitální perspektivě: možnosti a výzvy [Photomechanical Reproductions of Works of Art in Digital Perspective: Potential and Challenges]. Presented at the 8th Congress of the Czech Association of Art Historians, Brno, 12-14 September 2024.

2024-09-13

#conference talk

What strategies of visual representation were used by the illustrated press in the first half of the 20th century in their coverage of exhibitions? What role did pictorial documentation of exhibitions play in the mass media and art press, and what message did it convey to the reader? Did it have a marketing effect and attract larger audience? In the case of post-exhibition coverage, what were the methods of pictorial documentation of the exhibition, and what objectives did they pursue? In this paper, I will focus on the photomechanical reproduction of exhibition photographs in the contemporary press of the interwar period and compare them with the current situation of reporting on exhibitions in the form of pictorial documentation, which often becomes a substitute for physical exhibition visit (from the Martin Fryč phenomenon to the professionalization of social media of exhibition institutions). Among the key historical examples, I will include photographs of sculptures, which offer more dynamic possibilities for the photographer's work. One such example is the exhibition of Modern French Sculpture at the Belvedere in 1935, which was carried out with significant cultural and political overtones and reported in most illustrated media such as Pestrý týden, Letem světem, Světozor or Volné směry. The paper will focus on the exploration of the methods of conveying the artistic value of the exhibited works, as well as on the possible forms of manipulation of readers by the type and form of pictorial representation, the relationship between image and text, or the recycling of images by different media.

Conference talk by Katarína Mašterová, "Výstavy ve dvou rozměrech: Obrazové reportáže pro širší veřejnost [Exhibitions in Two Dimensions: Pictorial Reports in the Period Press for the General Public]", 8th Congress of the Czech Association of Art Historians – The Endings (and Beginnings) of Times, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, 12–14 September 2024.

2024-09-11

#conference talk

The discovery of X-rays in 1895 marked a turning point in the communication of scientific breakthroughs, as highlighted by their announcement in the Vienna Presse. This event signaled the rise of technical images in media culture, stepping beyond medical and scientific contexts. This presentation examines X-ray images not as media but as photomechanically mediated objects, focusing on their role in periodical culture and their transformative impact on modernism and the avant-garde. It traces the journey of a single X-ray photograph from a Berlin laboratory training female scientists to medical publications in Vienna, art journals in Berlin, and finally the Prague avant-garde magazine ReD in 1928. Misattributed to Moholy-Nagy in the 1930s, this case study demonstrates how periodical studies can illuminate the interplay between scientific images and art history, revealing marginalized authorships, particularly those of women, and offering new insights into transnational migrations and attributions in visual culture.

Conference talk by Camilla Balbi, “Finding Röntgen: Medical X-Ray Photographs in Avant-Garde Journals, a Transnational Journey”, presented at Periodicals: S.T.E.A.M. Ahead!, XII International Conference European Society for Periodical Research (ESPRit), Urbino, Italy, 11–13 September 2024.

2024-06-19

#conference talk

The paper delves into the pioneering work of Germaine Krull (1908) and Trude Fleischmann (1895), two Mitteleuropean women who defied societal norms as secular, middle-class, emancipated, and openly queer women working in photography. Their contribution to European photographic Modernism has often been overlooked, marginalized by a historiography that has long neglected female experiences scarred by history and exile. The focus of this study is a reexamination of the early nude photographic portraits they both realized between 1924 and 1925. Through the recent lenses of queer and visual studies, I aim to situate the gaze of these young photographers within the broader cultural contexts of the era. This entails placing their work in dialogue with influential currents such as the neue Sehen and the freikörperkultur, while also scrutinizing its reception within the official medical and media spheres of the time. Ultimately, this article uncovers how the queer gaze both decentered and redefined representations of the female nude during the dynamic – and dramatically ephemeral – cultural landscape of the 1920s.

Conference paper by Camilla Balbi, “A neue Shehen? Germaine Krull and Trude Fleischmann Aktfotografie”, Genere e Storia Oltre i Confini, IX Congresso della Società Italiana delle Storiche, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, 19–22 June 2024.

The article from this paper entitled “Photomechanical Nachleben and the Queer Art of Failure. The Aktfotografie of Germaine Krull and Trude Fleischmann” was awarded the runner-up Prize in the W+IGS (Women in German Studies) 2024 Essay Prize and will be published soon.

2024-06-07

#conference talk

Since its emergence before the mid-nineteenth century, photography has played a crucial role in establishing scientific disciplines and preserving cultural heritage. It has served as a means of recording and preserving memory, a tool for connoisseurship, and a vehicle for disseminating visual messages. It has become a paratext to the discourse of art history (Hamill - Luke 2017). In his reflections on the interpretive potential of photography in relation to sculpture, Heinrich Wölfflin distinguished between a correct view—aligned with the artist's intention—and a distorted or misleading one (Wölfflin 1896, 1897, 1915). As modern art evolved, new generations of photographers and artists began to use photography to capture the essence of artworks, intentionally providing their own visual interpretations. However, it is not solely the photograph itself or the individuals involved—the photographer, the artist of the depicted work, or the commissioner of the image—that influence our understanding of photography; the context in which it is used also plays a significant role. This paper focuses on photographs of sculpture in architecture or public space as featured in the 1960s magazine Výtvarné umění (Fine Art). What pictorial strategies did this magazine follow and what identity of sculptural works did it reveal in its reproductions? Have there been changes over the decades? What visual canon was applied here?

Conference talk by Katarína Mašterová, "Vizuální sdělení. Fotografie jako způsob interpretace v reprodukcích časopisu Výtvarné umění" [Visual Message: Photography as a Mode of Interpretation in the Reproductions of the Magazine Výtvarné umění (Fine Art)], Od architektury k interpretaci (Média architektury II), Department of Art History of the Masaryk University and Methodological Centre for Modern Architecture, Brno, Czech Republic, 7–8 June 2024.

2024-05-30

#invited symposium talk

The presentation examines the emergence of female and Jewish photographic culture during the Weimar Republic and its diasporic trajectory post-1933. Avoiding specific case studies, it provides a broader narrative that critically illuminates the decade’s cultural landscape. Figures like Lucia Moholy worked within a milieu marked by intersections of ethnicity, class, gender, and sexual orientation, shaping photography as a "gendered" practice influenced by material, institutional, and socio-historical factors. The post-1933 exile subjected this corpus to hybridization and transnationality, creating new paradigms worthy of systematic study. This exile—both physical and historiographical—marginalized these women due to racial and gendered politics, pushing their contributions to the periphery. Recovering their networks, aesthetics, and movements reveals untapped hermeneutical paths in Weimar photography history, intersecting with material history, exile studies, and decolonial studies, fundamentally transforming the photographic canon.

Invited lecture at the symposium Multiple Frames for Lucia Moholy, Goethe-Institut and Kunsthalle, Prague, 30 May 2024.

2024-04-30

#conference talk

In interwar Czechoslovakia, the printing and publishing concern V. Neubert & Sons emerged as a prominent cultural actor encompassing both specialized and general print media. The company printed and/or edited periodicals, books, maps, guidebooks, company catalogues, and advertising brochures. To showcase its commercial offer and the superior quality of its rotogravure printing process, Neubert also published the popular illustrated magazine Pestrý týden (Colorful Week) from 1926 to 1945.

The visual content of mass-market periodicals such as Pestrý týden has been approached from the perspective of their graphic design (Frizot & De Veigy, 2009), their role in the popularization of art (Cinelli et al., 2013) or their impact on mass visual culture (Beegan, 2008), but less often through the prism of the printer. This paper places the illustrations in Pestrý týden in the context of Neubert’s broader production of ‘ink and paper’ materials. The various affiliations that occur within this network of photomechanical reproductions reveal that Neubert’s activities determined part of the visual content of the magazine. These transmedial circulations of images were driven by various strategies – commercial interests, educational aims, and popularization of Czech art and photography –, all of which are linked to the nationalist sentiment that fueled Neubert’s enterprise from the outset, and his belief that beautifully printed photographs were Czechoslovakia’s best calling card.

Conference talk, Fedora Parkmann & Viktorie Vítů, "Printer as publisher. The photomechanical reproductions of V. Neubert & Sons across print media." Presented at Networks and Visual Seriality in Mass-Market Print Culture, Brussels & Leuven, KBR & KU Leuven, 29-30 April 2024.

2023-12-05

#conference talk

From 1921 to 1924, Berlin became one of the epicenters of the so-called “Weimar Jewish Renaissance” (Brenner, 1996): a golden age of cultural, artistic, and literary activities that for the first time sought to address a specifically Jewish audience and create a Jewish public sphere. Flooded with refugee Jewish intellectuals from Eastern Europe, the city became an ideal platform for the rise of Jewish books, whose publication and dissemination was facilitated by low-cost printing and postage during the years of hyperinflation.  Printed in Germany, these books were exported around the world.
For intellectuals interested in art history, this was the first opportunity to present a significant amount of Jewish visual material to the public. The material, often locked away in archives or located in remote regions of the Middle East or Eastern Europe, had previously received little attention as an object of study. The most significant attempt to include it in the Western art-historical and theoretical debate was made by Rachel Wischnitzer, a Russian-born art historian, in her bilingual (Hebrew and Yiddish) magazines Rimon/Milgroym, published in Berlin between 1922 and 1924. These magazines are considered ”the most beautiful and interesting journals of Jewish art that ever appeared” (Fuks, 1988).
In the proposed paper, I will reconstruct the material history of the magazines using archival material from the Leo Baeck Institute. This involves investigating the production, reception, and afterlife of the photomechanical reproductions they contain. The reproductions resulted from a complex interaction of academic scholarship and avant-garde research (noteworthy is El Lissitzky’s engagement in producing some of the pictures of the Mogilev Synagogue) which played a role in preserving what was, in some cases, the only visual evidence of artworks that perished in the war, thus bringing to light the construction of the first Jewish transnational visual culture.

Art within Reach: Photomechal Reproductions of Work of Art from Print to Digital, 5–6 December 2023, Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

2023-12-05

#conference talk

While the subject of photographic reproductions of artworks has recently garnered increasing attention, a comprehensive understanding of their complex production and distribution remains far from complete. In the wake of the material turn, many photography historians have shifted their focus from aesthetics to the very physical aspects of the medium. This newfound fascination with the material essence is evident in the heightened scrutiny of the tactile attributes of its diverse manifestations, including printed photomechanical reproductions.
Based on research within Czech archives, this paper undertakes an examination of the diverse material embodiments of photography interwoven with the complex process of producing reproductions for art magazines. It delves into the methods embraced by editors of art and art history journals published in the first half of the 20th century (Volné směry, Život, Umění) that span from commissioning original shoots and buying pictures by renowned photographers and photo agencies to exchanging photographs on both national and international level, and even rephotographing existing reproductions sourced from foreign magazines. The archival findings vividly showcase how the term “photography” is rich in meaning, materializing in a variety of forms (prints, glass and film plates, and process blocks) dictated by the chosen printing process and the desired outcome. 
Moreover, it reveals how the post-production phase, involving nuances such as background adjustments, cropping, size modulation, and contrast refinement, played an integral role in the journey that culminated in the creation of seemingly "transparent" images. Shedding light on these conventional yet invisible tools promises to unravel the intricate dynamics of decision-making, communication modalities, and exchange strategies that underlie the process of producing the photomechanical reproductions of artworks.

Art within Reach: Photomechal Reproductions of Work of Art from Print to Digital, 5–6 December 2023, Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

2023-12-05

#conference talk

In the 1890s, owners of photographic companies based in Europe formed unions or associations specifically devoted to the protection of photographic copyright. Their main objective was to ensure that photographers were protected against unauthorized reproduction of their work by publishers and the illustrated press. The industrialization of photomechanical processes, and in particular the introduction of halftone printing, greatly expanded the possibilities of photographic reproduction. Images could now be disseminated through books, journals, but also postcards, various objects and advertisements, which circulated widely, becoming transnational products. In this new international scenario, with non-existent or unclear laws protecting photographs, publishers could reproduce them using photomechanical processes without paying any reproduction rights. Moreover, reproductions of artworks raised problems of ownership and copyright that other photographs did not, fostering intense debates.
This paper analyzes the institution of these unions while also focusing on selected lawsuits between the 1890s and the 1920s that dealt with the unlawful reproduction of photographs of artworks. By examining these sources, the paper exposes the overlooked processes of production of photomechanical illustrations of art and the commercial mechanisms associated with them. In fact, there were laws regulating the financial relationships between photographic companies, publishers of magazines and postcards, photographers, agents, commercial libraries, artists whose work was photographically reproduced or galleries owning the rights over artworks, and other actors involved in the system. Although neglected by historiographies that privilege author-oriented narratives, the actors behind the production and circulation of photographs, such as publishers, photo agencies, commercial picture suppliers, and printing companies, played a key role. This paper aims to show their relevance.

Art within Reach: Photomechal Reproductions of Work of Art from Print to Digital, 5–6 December 2023, Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

2023-12-05

#conference talk

The interwar era of the Czechoslovak Republic saw a flourishing art scene influenced by European modernism, notably from Paris. Artistic exchange and shared reproductions played a crucial role, facilitated by magazines such as Cahiers d’Art and Minotaure. The Mánes Association of Fine Artists (Spolek výtvarných umelců Mánes), founded by young Czech artists in 1887, acted as a hub for embracing and producing modern art trends, aiming to introduce foreign influences. Their primary activities included organizing exhibitions and publishing a prominent monthly art magazine, Volné směry (Free Tendencies, 1896–1949), which offered numerous large-format reproductions as one of its distinctive features.
Volné směry had editors and an editorial board consisting of engaged members of the Association. The painter Emil Filla and the sculptor Josef Wagner were the last two regular editors, Filla serving from 1933–1938 and Wagner from 1939–1944. Both were active and well-received artists, as well as essayists and art archivists. They were knowledgeable about both the local and international art scenes, with equal insight into traditional art and contemporary trends. After the war, they were active leaders, organizers, and respected university teachers. Both regularly commissioned photographs of their work from Josef Sudek, who was an associate photographer for the magazine. In addition, both artists collected reproductions, although Filla’s archive was more extensive (Winter ed. 2010).
Did Filla and Wagner reflect their artistic tastes during their respective editorial tenures? How did they shape the visual strategies of Volné směry? What was the magazine’s transnational reach during this period, and how did it influence the public? Can we think of Volné směry as a platform for disseminating progressive tendencies to the general public – mainly through the power of images – in order to shape a modern citizen? How did the magazine’s objectives shift during the war? To address these questions, we will draw upon archival materials from the Mánes Association (including documents related to Volné směry) and the personal archives of the artists. Additionally, distant viewing methods will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the magazine's orientation, choices, and reach. Statistical analysis will help us understand the evolution of reproduction composition in the interwar and wartime periods, with a special focus on author’s nationalities, artwork’s dates of origin, and reproduction sizes.

Art within Reach: Photomechal Reproductions of Work of Art from Print to Digital, 5–6 December 2023, Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

2023–11–09

#conference talk

In this talk, we introduced the methodology of the PhotoMatrix project and the first results of the statistical processing of the collected data. In the wake of distant reading computing tools, distant viewing opens a range of possibilities for scholars in art history, photography and visual studies. Our project applies methods of distant viewing to a specific type of image, the photomechanical reproduction of art, and aims to address the complexity of its multiple layers: a photograph of the artwork is taken, which is transferred to a printing matrix, which is then printed, together with a caption, and the periodical is digitized. The statistical analysis focused on captions of images published in the magazine Volné Směry and confirmed the connection between the editor of the magazine and the type of artworks published.

Presentation within the conference Humanitní a společenské vědy perspektivou Digital Humanities [Humanities and Social Sciences from the Perspective of Digital Humanities], Univerzita Palackého, Olomouc, Czech Republic, 9 November 2023.

2023-10-20

#conference talk

How did Václav Vilém Štech contemplate photography, how did he write about it, and how did he handle reproductions in his publications? In this contribution, I build upon my previous research, focusing particularly on Štech's publishing activities in the 1930s, in which he often deliberately utilized photographic reproductions to support his arguments and to update old art for the contemporary audience. Based on an examination of reproductions in his other, earlier, and later publications, as well as images from Štech's estate, I subject a broad spectrum of photographs he encountered to a critical reading. These range from studio portraits and travel snapshots to photographs used for reproductions. His collaboration with the photographer Josef Ehm demonstrates how they worked with the visual accompaniment in joint publications, using it as a means of communication, allowing, for instance, the juxtaposition of the whole and the detail or the visual confrontation of different artistic styles.

Conference talk by Hana Buddeus, "V. V. Štech a fotografie". Presentation within the conference Historik a teoretik umění V. V. Štech [Historian and theorist of art V. V. Štech], UMPRUM, Praha, Czech Republic, 20 October 2023.

2023-02-22

#invited lecture

In the 1920s, Vilém Santholzer published several dozen articles on the beauty of machines, a text on the aesthetic power and authenticity of scientific photography, and even several of his own photographs of radioactive radiation in Czech avant-garde periodicals. The lecture will focus on the connection of this renowned radiologist, medical physicist, and tireless popularizer to Central European avant-garde circles, asking in particular about Santholzer's idea of beauty rooted in purpose and authenticity. It will thus show why he believed that modern airplane sculpture should surpass ancient sculpture and that the beauty of scientific photography should triumph over artistic photography.

Invited academic lecture by Viktorie Vítů, Collegium Historiae Artium lecture series, Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, 22 February 2023.

2022-09-23

#project presentation

An invited talk within the Research Seminar of the CEFRES by Hana Buddeus and Fedora Parkmann on 23 September 2022. The presenters introduced the PhotoMatrix project, which examines the rise and spread of photo-reproductions in Czech, French, German, and Russian art journals from 1900 to 1950. By combining digital humanities and archival research, the project aims to expand our historical knowledge from the local to the transnational, and from the empirical to big data, thus opening up new insights into the use of remote access to art in the digital age. This talk traced the various steps that led from the conception of the project to the submission of a proposal, and discussed the project’s methodology and goals.

2023-01-02

#video profile

In 2022, the Czech Academy of Sciences represented by its President, Eva Zažímalová awarded the Lumina Quaeruntur Prize to six talented scholars, including the French & Czech researcher Dr. Fedora Parkmann from the Institute of Art History. The award has enabled Dr. Parkmann to establish and finance our research project for the next five years. On this occasion, a video presentation was made by the Czech Academy of Sciences. (In Czech only).