Print Matters

Media and Modernity in Illustrated Magazines, 1910-1970

Maria Antonella Pelizzari

$113.95

Paperback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English

Getty Research Institute,U.S.
11 November 2025

Photographic equipment & techniques

Series: Issues & Debates

In the early to mid-twentieth century, the vast majority of printed photographs appeared in the pages of illustrated magazines. Publications such as Life, China Pictorial, Drum, Picture Post, and Ebony did more than showcase photographs; they crafted visual narratives by combining images, text, and graphics into influential cultural artifacts. These periodicals shaped public perception and mass media consensus like the Internet does today, bringing a shared visual experience to homes and newsstands around the world.

The essays in this volume delve into the technologies and visual strategies behind these publications, showing how their layouts were affected by political, commercial, editorial, and artistic factors leading up to World War II. The commentaries also explore how democracy, dictatorships, colonization, and modernity at large gave rise to experimental magazine designs, turning avant-garde art and lifestyle reporting into popular formats. Featuring over 150 images, Print Matters traces how illustrated magazines evolved across countries and continents, offering new insights into their history and enduring impact on culture and society.

By: Maria Antonella Pelizzari
Imprint: Getty Research Institute,U.S.
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 254mm, Width: 178mm,
ISBN: 9798887120003
Series: Issues & Debates
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 11 November 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Maria Antonella Pelizzari is a professor of the history of photography in the Department of Art and Art History at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, the City University of New York. Andres Mario Zervigon is a professor of the history of photography in the Department of Art History at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Reviews for Print Matters: Media and Modernity in Illustrated Magazines, 1910-1970

As the editor of VU once declared, photography was invented twice: first by Daguerre and Niepce and then, a century later, by the illustrated magazine. This wonderful volume investigates this second invention in fascinating detail, offering a global perspective on the development of a multilayered, multimedia vehicle in which the photographic image is combined with text and graphics to both celebrate and mediate the everyday experience of modernity. Featuring essays by a panoply of stellar scholars, this is a book that everyone must have on their shelf. - Geoffrey Batchen, Professor of History of Art, University of Oxford