Schotse herdershond before 1895

This photograph of a Scottish Sheepdog was made by Charles Reid, most likely in Scotland, around the turn of the 20th century. It appears within a book, perhaps about photography itself, and sits on a page opposite a discussion of photographic methods. What can we learn from this context? Well, photography in this period was still relatively new and was rapidly changing. It existed in tension with older forms of visual representation, such as painting and drawing. As photography became more sophisticated, its relationship to art and social class became contested. Many people believed that photography should be used for documentation, rather than art. In this case, the photograph seems to be used to document the appearance of a particular breed of dog. But even such ostensibly neutral imagery can be revealing. The work of art historians often involves close collaboration with other disciplines and can be enriched by access to archives.