Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1906 (Heft 14))

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS.
IT is not many years ago that the work and name of Steichen acted
upon the average photographic public as a red rag does upon a bull.
How things have changed — even Mr. Steichen's work — but his has
been no step backward. The inference is plain that the photographic
public has been in a measure educated. The non-photographic
public, at first but slightly interested, has begun to appreciate that
photography holds within itself some possibilities, though individuals still
differ as to their extent. This interest is growing, and reacting upon
photographers tends toward a more comprehensive understanding and
appreciation, resulting in such a decided improvement in the standards of
all, even in the standards of the Philistine, that we feel confident that many
who found no pleasure in the earlier published work of Mr. Steichen will
now thank us in giving them a second opportunity of viewing the work of
this maturing young painter and photographer.
The plates in this number, together with those published in the Special
Supplement, constitute a landmark in the achievements of the camera and in
their relation all that has thus far been accomplished in photography give
promise that either Mr. Steichen himself or some one at present unknown
will in the future accomplish such achievements that even the most doubting
Thomas will be convinced. Perhaps what we believe in to-day, the world
will acknowledge to-morrow. The photogravures were all made from the
original negatives and under Mr. Steichen's personal direction. We flatter
ourselves that some of the gravure plates are even above our own average of
reproduction and give a fair idea of Mr. Steichen's spirit, although it is im-
possible to reproduce the full quality of his originals, some of which are in
gum , some in platinum, some in bromide and some in a combination of these
processes. It should be a matter of interest to all photographers that
“ Mother and Child—Sunlight,” the chief prize-winning print in the recent
International Kodak Competition, in which 28,000 prints were submitted,
was made with a 4x5 Kodak camera and lens on a roll-film, developed in
machine and printed on velox paper. This ought to be sufficient answer to the
many charges that Mr. Steichen’s acknowledged superior skill is dependent
upon faking negatives and prints or both. The prize-winning cover design
in the Goerz Catalogue-cover Competition, in which the famous designer
M. Alphonse Mucha was one of the three judges, proves that photography
lends itself to this branch of art. The Goerz people deserve great credit for
encouraging the use of the camera in this hitherto undeveloped field.
Mr. Steichen's three-color work which we had hoped to include is as
yet not ready for publication, owing to the fact that the engravers have not
been able to satisfy us in this regard. It will be published in a later issue
of Camera Work.

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