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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

In the 1860s, French textile designer Charles Aubry began using photography to make floral patterns for manufacturers, having spent previous decades creating designs by hand. He also sold photographs as models for students of industrial design; French art schools sought to improve their training programs in applied arts and design to gain a competitive edge in the increasingly industrialized market for wallpaper and fabrics. Declining demand for naturalistic-pattern designs, however, together with the art establishment’s anxiety over the increased status of photography, brought a halt to sales in the 1870s, and Aubry died bankrupt and relatively obscure.

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