Bridgegate from Corner of Market Street 1899

James Craig Annan made this photograph of the Bridgegate in Glasgow using a process called photogravure. This involved etching a photographic image onto a copper plate, then using that plate to make prints – a hybrid of industrial technology and traditional printmaking. Notice how the image is dominated by advertisements, plastered across the buildings like a second skin. They point to the rapid expansion of consumer culture at the turn of the 20th century, fuelled by industrial production. The products advertised - tobacco, whisky, soap - speak to the daily habits of working-class people in this bustling port city. Annan's choice of photogravure gives the scene a soft, almost painterly quality, elevating the everyday to the realm of art. Yet, this very technique also highlights the way that mechanical reproduction was transforming both art and commerce. It blurs the line between documentation and artistic interpretation.