On Either Side of the ‘Gatekeeper’. Technical Experimentation with Photography at L’Illustration (1880–1900)

Abstract

A gap exists between the publication of images made using the halftone process in French newspapers circa 1880 and the widespread use of photography in the press at the end of the nineteenthcentury. Histories of press photography generally offer no explanation for this gap of nearly two decades. In order to shed light on this period, a few key images are presented as pivotal to the development of the illustrated press. Among them are images by Nadar for Eugene Chevreul’s centennial jubilee, the view of ‘Shantytown,’ and the depiction of the ‘gatekeeper’ published in L’Illustration in 1891. These images represent milestones which usher in the era of the modern illustrated press. Yet through analysis of the original gatekeeper montage and other photographs of the time conserved in the archives of L’Illustration, we see that the images do not reflect a sharp division: rather they reveal the convergence of techniques and hybridization of various types of visual information, indicating a slow assimilation of photo­graphy into the illustrative process.