When cameras became more affordable to the middle class did painters furrow their brows in disapproval at the unwashed masses breaking the rules with a carefree click of the shutter?
At the time it was debatable whether or not photographs were really art, because the photographer need do nothing more than release the shutter. There was probably some protectionism involved, as photography put a lot of portrait artists out of work.
dlcarrier|7 months ago
It took a supreme court case to declare that photography includes some amount of artistic expression, without which it wouldn't be eligible for copyright: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrow-Giles_Lithographic_Co._...
At the time it was debatable whether or not photographs were really art, because the photographer need do nothing more than release the shutter. There was probably some protectionism involved, as photography put a lot of portrait artists out of work.