Early Writings on Photography in Croatia: Main Aspects of the Discourse About the “New Daughter of the Sun in the Circle of Muses”

This article identifies the most important thematic points in early photography discourse through a critical reading of early essays that look at photography as a phenomenon.The research centers on the corpus of articles on photography published in Yugoslavian, mostly Croatian, periodicals from the beginning of the 20th century to 1941, mostly in magazines specialized in photography, which are the focus of special attention.The selection consists of articles dealing with the phenomena and divisions in the Croatian photography scene characterized by a strong polarization between professional and amateur photographers.The articles analyze photography as a cultural, social or ideological phenomenon, look into the question of the nature of photography as art or technology, as well as the establishment of a hierarchy of values with regard to photography genres, following trends on the European and world photography scene.Despite the fact that during the observed period the authors were still learning to write about photography, defining the subject and locating its central problems, and were looking for suitable methodologies, these writings constitute pioneering work, and the discussions would lay the foundation and framework for the development of an autonomous contemporary photography discourse."Today, photography is one of the most productive and modern branches of art, although the official art circles accept it with a heavy heart, in some cases even treating it as its illegitimate child that no one could tell would develop into such a wise being as recognized today.Recognizing photography as pure art is only a matter of formality.