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A Brief History of the WIEP

Jeff Smith, Historian, Delaware Photographic Society

A chronological history of the Wilmington International Exhibition of Photography as a series of milestones, large and small, going back to our origins in 1934 is available here. In many ways, however, this approach fails to provide a complete and accurate overview.

In an attempt to address some of the “bigger picture” issues, I produced a graph depicting the number of entries in the different sections over the exhibition’s history. Prior to 1952, of course, there was only one section, primarily monochrome prints, with a few color prints considered on occasion. Everything changed with the introduction of color slides, and the following year, color prints, as separate sections. The graph cannot be reproduced here in a meaningful way, as the line depicting color slide entries would need to represent numbers from 840 in 1952 to a peak of 3243 in 1981, while the line representing monochrome prints from a peak of 1400 in 1939 to only 315 in 2002. In other words, to provide a line depicting monochrome print entries as anything more than a nearly-straight line, a line to the same scale for color slides would shoot way off the top of the page.

Since the 1980’s, the number of color slide entries has continued to decline. In 2007, for the first time, the number of color slide entries was less than those entered in the first slide section in 1952. In 2008, we created the projected image section to include projected digital files as well as slides, in the hope that the annual audiovisual presentation would be revitalized.

Although introduced as a separate section in 1953, color prints remained a relatively small section of the exhibition until 1988, when it equaled the number of monochrome prints. The ratio of monochrome to color print entries seesawed until 2001, which was the last time the number of monochrome prints exceeded color.

Compiling the history of the Wilmington International Exhibition of Photography (WIEP) naturally included several close reviews of the catalogs, as well as other research.

There are few records of the financial aspects of the early exhibitions, but I noted that only the first and third catalogs did not include advertising. The advertisements, both from national and local businesses, provide fascinating insight over the technological advances in photography over the past 75 years, as well as reflections on the history of Wilmington. With few exceptions, the exhibition has exceeded its costs with revenue from advertising, entry fees, and donations.

Until 1967, when the catalog began to feature reproductions of all medal- winning images, accepted images reproduced were usually few in number, and, presumably, chosen at the prerogative of the editor. I find it somewhat remarkable that since the second exhibition’s catalog, about 36% of the catalogs have contained one or more nudes. Moreover, from 1941 to 1950, eight of the ten catalogs contained a nude, while from 1951 to 1960, only one did. Considering that Playboy Magazine was introduced with some controversy in 1953, I’m not sure what to make of the catalogs over those years.

Having completed a review of the history of the Wilmington International, it is only fitting that we consider the future. We look with some trepidation at the implications of the recent decision by the United States Postal Service to eliminate international surface mail. The anticipated huge increases in return postage costs for the print sections will need to be addressed in order to maintain the representation of foreign printmakers on the scale we have enjoyed over the many years. I am confident that we will find ways to continue the Wilmington International Exhibition of Photography as among the world’s finest.