A Sunset for the Printing. The Entry of Photography into the Latin American Periodical Press at the Beginning of the Contemporary Mass Culture (1880-1920)

Abstract

This article examines the main transformations experienced by the visual content of current affairs magazines for a wide audience, which experienced a period of splendor after the invention of photomechanics (1880s). The article analyzes three Latin American
magazines that were pioneers in the inclusion of photographs, such as Cuba y América (1897-1913); Actualidades de Lima (1903-1908), and PBT, from Buenos Aires (1904-1918). The analysis focuses on the process by which photography becomes consolidated as a current image, while the image made manually, linked to the subjectivity of the artist, loses its dependence on the culture of engraving and begins to insert itself within the logic of contemporary illustration, comics and graphic humor. As a result of this, we propose, the discursive spaces of the images that make up the visual repertoire of journalistic media are reorganized, which marks the beginning of a new era for mass magazines.