| Abstract: | Abstract Autumn 1977 saw the appearance of the first comprehensive book in German on the history of photography in this century. The work is divided into three sections of which the first, on ‘The Forerunners of Modern Photography’, deals with the technical and intellectual foundations of the field, as they were at the beginning of the century. At about that time photography was able to break away from pamtmg, and although it was still strongly influenced by Impressionism it succeeded in establishing itself as a medium in its own right, through the avant-garde trends in fine art. The principal subjects remained allegories, meaningless portraits and genre pictures, but this soon changed before, and especially after, the First World War when photography was subjected to new forces, which led to the development of modern styles. |
