Gezicht op het gebouw voor techniek en de vrije kunsten tijdens de World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 1893

This photogravure was made by Charles Dudley Arnold in 1893, showing the Liberal Arts Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Photogravure is a printing process, allowing photographic images to be reproduced using etching. It involves transferring a photographic image onto a printing plate, then etching it, to create an image that can be inked and printed. This was quite a laborious process, but it allowed for the mass production of photographic images, which were in high demand during this period. What’s interesting here is the contrast between the hand-crafted nature of the photogravure process, and the modern subject of the image. The Liberal Arts Building itself was a monument to industry and progress. The very act of documenting the Fair through photography and photogravure speaks to the changing nature of labor, politics, and consumption in the late 19th century. It reminds us that every image, even a seemingly objective photograph, is the product of a particular set of materials, processes, and social conditions.