ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book sets out the groundwork for such an analysis with three histories: a chronological narrative of the pictures and their producers, a survey of the contemporary audiences for the pictures, and an analysis of the role of the press in the phenomenon. What changed in the late-Victorian art world that allowed these ambiguous pictures to be perceived as games rather than failures? What was the role of the press in the production of the problem picture? What were the implications of ‘Art’ becoming just another form of entertainment in the ever-expanding arena of mass culture? The book explores these questions through an examination of the early problem pictures of the 1890s, focusing on the critical role that the formulation of Woman as a ‘problem’ played in their visual and narrative structure.
