FotoMalta History of Photography

The 20th Century: Color, Innovation, and New Aesthetics (1900-1950)

The 20th century witnessed dramatic changes in photography, including the advent of color photography, the development of new film formats, and the emergence of new artistic styles.

1900

Color Photography Emerges

The Autochrome plate, introduced by the Lumière brothers in 1907, was the first commercially successful colour photography process, making colour photography accessible to amateurs.

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1913

35mm Film

The 35mm film format, initially developed for motion pictures, was adapted for still photography, leading to the development of compact and portable cameras like the Leica, which was introduced in 1925.

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1920-1930

New Film Technologies

The introduction of more stable and flexible celluloid and triacetate film bases improved the durability and safety of film.

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1930-1940

The Rise of Photojournalism

Photography became a powerful tool for documenting social issues and events, with magazines like Life using photography to tell stories and shape public opinion.

1935

Kodachrome

Eastman Kodak introduced Kodachrome, a revolutionary color transparency film that produced high-quality, long-lasting color images.

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1948

Polaroid Instant Camera

Edwin Land introduced the Polaroid Land Camera, which produced instant photographs, transforming the way people captured and shared images.

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Oskar_Barnack

The democratization of photography was a true revolution and anirreversible process, precipitating the omnipresence of the image in the 21st century. Oskar Barnack of the E. Leitz company made his contribution to this evolution by inventing – at the eve of World War I – a miniature camera using perforated strips of 35-mm film, later to be commercialized as the Leica (1924). While some distrusted this easy-to-use and compact device and deemed it unsuitable for serious photography, others embraced the new opportunity to photograph anytime, anywhere. Very soon the Leica became the predominant camera among both professionals and amateur photophiles. The next iconic invention was that of the flashbulb (1930), replacing the highly dangerous flash powder with gas discharge tubes. This development in its turn yielded the perfection of the electronicflash, requiring short exposure times and compact enough to fit into a pocket camera. Soon after (1935), another photographer’s dream was fulfilled when Eastman Kodak launched its new color reversal films. Almost 30 years after the brothers Lumière’s autochrome glass plates, color photography was now within everyone’s reach.