The Inkjet Print as Objet D'Art

Artist orTechnician?

In an essay byJohn Szarkowski, the previous curator of photography at New York'sMuseum of Modern Art, he comments that during the first century of photography's existence (possibly 'till the mid 1950s) it was understood primarily through original photographic prints. Only since the second half of the 20th century have professional photographers come to assume that they would make their livings by people seeing their work in reproduction rather than through original prints.

As Szarkowski points out, this is a much easier and more profitable system. Make one print, deliver it to the photoengraver, and pretty soon millions of copies were in people's hands through magazines, newspapers and books. In fact, hasn't it been every photographer's dream to shoot forNational Geographic? No original prints here, just 6 million reproductions inside a yellow bordered cover.

But with this approach the photographer is no longer a sole p...