Photographic image, as Susan Sontag noticed in her book, is able to usurp reality. Artists because of their human nature are still subjective regardless of their skills and desire to be truthful in an interpretation of reality. Camera created an image due to mechanical interaction of lenses, light and chemistry of the film. This quality to create a precise verity was noticed and adopted immediately by commerce for product illustration in the second half of the 19th century. Interestingly, in advertisement at first, photography was an intermediate step. Photos were used as templates for the wood block prints, so called woodburytype , and later on, for photolithography. This process protected images from fading. From the handful of silver prints that travelling salesmen carried for demonstration to large directory illustrating the products of sixty five businesses comparable by the variety and quantity to modern Sears and JC Penny catalogs that was published by Gallery of Arts and Manufactures of Philadelphia in 1871, photography loomed into…show more content… By the beginning of the 20th century human models enhanced the impact of advertisement photos. Although in the beginning of the 20th century, photographic images of merchandise from lawnmowers to corsets accompanied with lovely girls and kids helped to sell products, this new media did not dominate the advertisement considered rather and art than industry. Interestingly, that the Woodbury Soap company for their famous advertisement campaign of 1911 -1926 “A skin you love to touch” maintained artistic hand rendered images apparently to convey the flavor of mystery and romance peculiar to the period of Art Nouveau and Art Deco. A decade later, “Filtered Sunshine” ads used photos of nudes. Only photography was capable to emphasize the unaffectedness and freedom that appealed to emancipated women of the 30s. On the other hand, absence of color saved the ad from excessive
