Modernity
In the mid 19th century, the effects of the first Industrial Revolution—set in motion in the 18th century—had profoundly reshaped society. The introduction of steam engines and new production techniques fundamentally changed how people experienced time, space, and, more concretely, their everyday routines. Cities expanded rapidly as workers migrated to industrial centers, leading not only to economic progress but also to a cultural shift where technological advancements became a central theme.
This modernization of daily life was also reflected in the arts and in photography. Much of 19th-century photography was shaped by Pictorialism, a movement characterized by carefully staged portraits and idyllic rural scenes rendered with a painterly aesthetic—as exemplified by The Farmer. However, the medium started to take on a broader role around the turn of the century. The development of new photographic techniques, such as faster shutter speeds and more portable cameras, allowed photographers to capture everyday scenes, urban expansion, and industrial design. Thus, while cities were growing, there were also people documenting the changes of the modern European cities during the mid- to late 19th century, what became known as “urban photography”. It was used to document and to give a lifelike representation of the outside world.
Simultaneously, modernity seeped into artistic expression in the early 20th century: it referred to the “idea of advancing new aesthetic values beginning from the 1900s to the late 1930s. To be modern in this period was to be identified with new subject matter and new ways of seeing” (Bate, 2016).
The rise of abstraction and artistic movements such as Dada, Suprematism, Constructivism and Surrealism were heavily influencing photographers of this time. This translated to new experimental visual practices which were very different from the Pictorialist approach, such as extreme perspectives, fragmentation, tilted horizons and sometimes even photographs without a camera (a photogram), which captured the modern world from another viewing point.
The themes of these modernist pictures also referred to iconic then-modern novelties and technological advancements such as new landmarks, machine-manufactured goods, new modes of transportation.
Whether it’s the dynamic interplay of straight lines and curves in Alexandre’s low-angle photograph of the Eiffel Tower, typical of avant-garde practices, the portraits of workers captured in action within their professional environments, such as the captain of the steamer Zeelandia or, finally, Road Runner, in which Dubreuil depicts two motorists in a style reminiscent of photomontage, the images of this period reflect a fusion of stylistic modernity and the broader process of industrial and technological transformation.
As photographers of the time experimented with different themes and artistic techniques, modernist photography flourished in Europe in the early 20th century. However, in the years leading up to World War II, the rise of the Nazi regime forced many avant-garde artists to flee. The Nazi campaign against so-called “Degenerate Art” [Entartete Kunst] targeted modernist movements–including Bauhaus, Surrealism, and Constructivism–branding them as subversive or “un-German”.
Many photographers lost much of their work, either confiscated, destroyed, or lost in bombings, as was the case with Pierre Dubreuil. Those who remained, faced severe persecution; many, particularly Jewish avant-garde photographers, were banned from working, sent to concentration camps, or executed. A notable example is the Jewish experimental fashion photographer Yva (Else Ernestine Neuländer-Simon, 1900-1942?) who was barred from working in her studio and eventually killed in a concentration camp. The war and Nazi repression marked a brutal rupture in the development of modernist photography, scattering its practitioners across the world and silencing others entirely.
