IMPACT OF THE MEANS OF REPRODUCTION
ON THE EVOLUTION OF GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION
Abstract
Graphic illustration is a discipline where several interests converge: they are aesthetic, informative and of knowledge. This discipline has the capacity of making us understand a text in a complementary fashion; be it literary, scientific, advertising or any other kind of text. Illustration even transmits ideas or sensations that sometimes the text itself does not manage to communicate. However, and in spite of its plastic and thematic richness, studies on illustration are scarce.
The specific objectives of our hypothesis are the following:
- To detect and analyse the different means of reproduction that illustration counted with through history.
- To analyse the impact of the means of reproduction on the graphics of illustration, the way it operates and its social function.
- To set and define the singularities of the different style trends and the diverse areas of operation of illustration.
Hence, this doctoral thesis is structured in five chapters establishing the boundaries of the different evolutionary periods of this discipline.
The methodology established in order to tackle our thesis is conditioned mainly by the wide scope of the geographic space and historic period we study and by the scarcity of specific bibliography. Before these difficulties we have turned to bibliographic sources dealing tangently with our subject. A decisive role has been played by a number of studies on art history, culture, book production, engraving, means of reproduction, press, billboards, advertising, and photography; as well as different handbooks on these subjects, both contemporary and from the past. Along with these, of course, the analysis of paradigmatic works that have contributed to the progress of illustration has been essential. We consider that this analysis helps us to know, first and foremost, the role of illustration in society; we hope that this effort of documentation becomes useful to appreciate a discipline with such deep significance and social presence.
As a fundamental and conclusive idea we can state that the keys of the evolution of illustration have been determined by certain determining facts that we dare to define as milestones changing the course and discourse of its history. Also, we believe that the greatest contribution of the present thesis is to gather a series of reflections that, in correspondence with the rest of art disciplines and considering the role of the printed image, tackles different aspects of graphic illustration, helping to understand this discipline and its evolution.
Finally, we should highlight that, following our objectives, we have chosen to tackle the study of this discipline around the impact of the different means of reproduction in their plastic aspect, way of operation and their social function. We hope this approach becomes useful for future research.