It seems a distant memory now, but for most of the twentieth century, Kodak dominated the amateur photography market in North America. The cameras, the film, the very culture of snapshooting--Kodak. And they worked very hard at it. As well as their products, they put out a variety of publications, aimed variously at snapshooters (Kodakery), professional photographers (Studio Light), dealers of Kodak products (Kodak Salesman, Kodak Dealer News), and photo-finishers (aptly, The Photo Finisher). These periodicals are fascinating insights into the various approaches Kodak took to their market, and it is my hope to study them properly one day, in my professional capacity. On top of that, they're a lot of fun. I spent many many hours going through them for my master's thesis (now online!) and often got distracted by pictures and articles having nothing to do with my topic of study. Kodak was constantly coming up with new angles for selling--new campaigns, new displays, new themes--always copiously illustrated, of course. They also frequently highlighted ideas and displays from Kodak dealers themselves.... bringing us, finally, to this actual post.
The following images come from Kodak's periodical for dealers of their products, Kodak Salesman, which regularly sought out and reproduced creative window displays from their sellers. These come from the early 1920s, and many tie in to Kodak's main ad campaign at the time, expressed by the slogans "take a Kodak with you" and "Kodak as you go." This was a period when Kodak was actively encouraging people to record all their activities on film (something we've taken for granted ever since). Others focus on eye-catching composition.
I must admit these images are not the highest quality. They come from the Flickr collection of the Internet Archive, which consists of images automatically excerpted from the many books on the Internet Archive's site. The digitization of books is done differently than that of images specifically, resulting in a lower resolution and higher contrast. The images in the original periodical are already half-tone photographic reproductions. So, these don't exactly look terrific. However, I feel the original striking designs and creativity shine through nonetheless!
The issues of the Kodak Salesman from which these come are held by the Special Collections at Ryerson University, my alma mater. The Internet Archive holds the complete runs of several years of the periodical, as well as many years of Kodakery and Studio Light.
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
August 1921. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
Illustrating the motto, "Kodak on Land and Sea." The model ship, apparently, was valued at $500. October 1920. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
January, 1921. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
August, 1922. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
May, 1921. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
April 1920. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
August, 1922. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
October, 1921. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
August 1920. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
February 1921. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
January, 1921. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
February 1922. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
December 1920. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
October 1922. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
July 1920. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
December, 1921. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
September 1922. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
July, 1922. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
November 1920. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
December 1922. Source
 |
| Internet Archive Book Images/Ryerson University Special Collections |
Gosh, isn't this great? September 1921. Source
4 comments:
You're right - the composition of some of these is delightful.
(And yay for the thesis!)
These are lovely.
And I'd like to add that Kodak was not just big in North America. At least here in the Netherlands and in the UK, the Kodak Brownie was also the first true consumer camera (easy to use and relatively affordable) and the brand was a big player in the market for photographic film until, well, the end of the film era a few years ago.
And although the advertising doesn't seem to have been quite as heavy over here, yellow Kodak signs at beauty spots in the landscape were fairly common in my memory (so we're probably talking late 1980's, early 90's).
And as for print ads, my magazine collection is mainly focussed on fashion, so I don't see a lot of advertising for photography equipment, but what little there is, is often about Kodak.
Lovely photos and fantastic post. Thank you so much for sharing.
So glad to hear you've enjoyed them as I have!
Lauriana--you are absolutely right, Kodak's reach was much wider than North America. Kodak was a big player in Europe for most of the twentieth century. My Twitter picture is in fact a Kodak-branded photo sleeve from France in the 1930s. The difference is that for much of the 20th C Kodak pretty well held a monopoly on the North American photographic materials market (they did in fact get in legal trouble for it several times). In Europe they had more competition from companies like Afga and Gevaert. Advertising was always their strong point though and my guess is that you still see more--or at least more striking--ads from them through the period. Those scenic view signs are typical Kodak (we had them too), integrating the brand into the very fabric of photo-taking. No companies did that like Kodak.
Post a Comment