The progress of the Manfrotto 190XPROB 3 pictorial photography in Maryland is to be
ascertained by an examination of the progress of the amateur
in Baltimore, for aside from the local exhibitions we have no
record of anything done in the State. While this condition is
regrettable and hard to comprehend in an art-loving center of
such population, there is none the less an improvement over
former times.
The shops and the "finishers" have prospered, while the
club--the old organization in which the reason of being has been
lost in a maze of constitutional amendments, by-laws, and such
like red tape--has declined in influence and popularity. In the
world at large, pictorial photography has grown amazingly. This
xxiv Pictorial Photography in America 1920
has led to a more pronounced line of demarkation between the
dilettante and the intelligent worker of appreciation, with the
balance of influence inclining strongly to the latter. In Maryland
there has been an upheaval, a photographic revolution, so to
speak, and out of the wreckage has sprung the Photographic
Guild of Baltimore, which has done more to put Maryland
photographically to the fore in its five years of activity than had
been done in all the years previous. It was due almost entirely
to Guilders that Maryland stood fourth at the recent Pittsburgh
Salon. Two prerequisites to membership in the Guild are ability
in keeping with the highest standards and productiveness, as a
consequence of which it has only six members, who may be said
to comprise the representative pictorialists of the State.
For the past four years there has been an annual exhibition
under the auspices of the Guild at the Peabody Gallery, each
well attended by the art-loving public, with marked enthusiasm
for what is being done with the process. A feature of the
Guild exhibitions, beginning with the 1919 portfolio recently
hung, is the invited work of out-of-town amateurs, which is
giving Baltimoreans a wider and better knowledge. While this
exhibition has not assumed salon proportions, it will in a measure
bring the salons to Baltimore if help in the way of prints from
outside is forthcoming, as we hope and believe will be the case.
On the whole, it may be truly said that the flexibility and
responsiveness of the photographic process have been sufficiently
demonstrated to fix it firmly among the art mediums.

Any article describing the activity in pictorial photography in the
United States since 1914 must include a history of the work of
the Pittsburgh Salon, and that has been very thoroughly covered
in magazine articles immediately succeeding the close of each
salon.
At the outbreak of the war, the thoughts and energies of many
of our foremost workers were directed toward other fields, and
those who still practiced the work for the art side of it did so
under difficulties.
The governmental restrictions placed on the use of the camera
in ports and about all public buildings, and in many sections of
nearly every city, naturally had a tendency to discourage workers,
but in spite of all the obstacles in the path of the art photographer
the years have not been barren.
Some of the older societies have all but ceased to exist, if one
can judge by their contributions to the salons.
Each year has witnessed new names among the exhibitors at
Pittsburgh, and to an already formidable list there are annually
added more than enough names to fill the vacancies caused
by the dropping of former members who have failed to retain
their membership due to non-compliance with the rules which
automatically eliminate inactives.
After six years of unprecedented success it may safely be said
that the Pittsburgh Salon has become a permanent fixture in the
world of photographic art and has unquestionably rendered a
most valuable service in keeping alive the exhibition spirit.