Autochromes: The Earliest Color

(Above) An impressive 5 x 7 inch autochrome, circa 1905, from the gallery of Alex Novak and Marthe Smith. Learn more at 212.822.5662 or visit their website at www.vintageworks.net. Click for larger view.

So, you thought the year 1905 was black and white, did you? :-)

Be sure and click on images for a larger view.


All of these photos were made in Belgium around 1900 to 1910!





IF YOU COULD SEE BACK 110 YEARS, just for a moment—the people and their dress, a city street or country path in real color, that would be pretty amazing, wouldn’t it?

Just a few years ago, color photos and movie film of World War II was made available for the first time that documented various aspects of the war. Even during 1940-45, color film was quite rare. The few color photos that I have seen reproduced of soldiers and the war (rather than in B&W) brings the distant past a lot closer. Of course, it wasn’t until the 1950’s that color was finally introduced to the world—and even then, it had its limitations.

But did you know that color images were being made at the turn of the 20th century? The process was called the autochrome, and it was a complicated process using, of all things... potatoes. If it wasn’t an autochrome, any color images you might find from that period or before were hand-colored tintypes, Daguerreotypes, and other monochromatic processes. Here, for the first time, was a process that could truly capture the ambient color of the day. It looked a lot like a glass slide, and was about 4 x 5 inches (and larger) in size.

The autochrome 1907-1932

The autochrome process was invented during the years 1895-1903, by the French brothers Louis Lumière (1864-1947 and Auguste Lumière (1862-1954). It took them four further years to work out and refine the several fabrication processes. Finally in 1907 the autochrome plates came on the market and were an instant success. Until now, the photographers’ only way to produce color was tinting the plates by hand which was done by many photographers with breathtaking artistry.

Here’s part of what it took to make an autochrome plate

The nucleus of autochrome glass plates are dyed grains of potato starch measuring between 0.006—0.025mm.

1. Make three heaps of starch, dye each pile in respectively violet, green and orange.
2. Make a mix of these three different colored grain starches.
3. You need a glass plate between 0.9 and 1.8mm thick.
4. First you have to varnish the plate with a latex based varnish.
5. Blow the colored mix of grains on the varnished plate.
6. Gently brush the plate to remove the surplus grains.
7. Next, a fine layer of charcoal is applied to fill the interstices between the grains.
8. The whole plate then has to be pressed to reduce overall thickness of layers.
9. After pressing, apply a second layer of varnish.
10. To finish off, place a panchromatic emulsion layer.
    

This is briefly the production process of an autochrome plate, but imagine for all the different production stages industrial machines had to be invented to produce plates on a grand scale.

Some interesting facts

• There are between 6,000 to 7,000 grains on a square millimeter.
• A rolling pressure of 5000 kg per square centimeter had to be achieved to press the layers without breaking the fragile glass plate.
• Around 1914 the daily production was 6,000 autochrome plates.
• It is estimated that between 1907 and 1932 around 20 million plates were sold.
• The biggest collection of autochromes (72,000 plates) is housed at the Albert Kahn Museum at Boulogne Billancourt, France.

An AM Repost from 1/23/09

Learn more at: Autochromes.
Copyright 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 Thomas Weynants (Pipistrello)
Media_Museum Version (6) 01 / 01 / 2008 - All rights reserved by SOFAM

The Bonus Side of Cabinet Cards

All of us have seen cabinet cards, those 19th century portraits on heavy card stock you find for a buck in almost every antique shop in America. Did you ever consider the backs of these cards? Almost all have beautiful and graphic typographic or pictorial examples that advertised the photo studio or photographer. While many cabinet cards portraits (the fronts) can be relatively bland, you might want to flip the card over. Like a second chance lottery ticket—you just might have a second chance at something wonderful. These images are from Luminous Lint, the most comprehensive Web site on photography in the world. Luminous Lint is a labor of love by Alan Griffiths. (alan@luminous-lint.com)

These cabinet card backs are from the private collection of Anthony Davis, and were part of an online exhibition on Luminous Lint.
Antiq-photo Rainbow Creations
(www.19cphoto.com)

An AM repost from 2/11/09

The Conceptual Photograph: The Art of Mole & Thomas

An Accidental Mysteries blast from the past (12/12/08).

ARTHUR MOLE AND HIS ASSOCIATE JOHN THOMAS would spend a week or more planning and assembling these fantastic photographs in the years during and after WWI. As a patriotic gesture to show American strength and to boost morale here at home, the team would first draw the outline they needed on their 11 x 14 inch view camera from a constructed tower some 70 feet high. By taking test photos of men standing shoulder-to-shoulder, say 10 or 20 men across and deep at various points, they could then calculate how many people were needed to complete a line. Then, they had to calculate whether the men were to wear dark or light shirts to complete the arduous task of making the tonalities of the picture correct. Look at the back part of any image (click on image). Obviously, it took many more people to fill a row there than towards the front. Published reports of their projects say soldiers endured full days in wool uniforms standing in heat and other conditions for the pictures—probably a better task than fighting in the trenches of France, where a good portion of them ended up. The images were later sold to raise funds for the troops and care of the wounded when they returned.

Just to give you an idea of the number of people it took to make a few of these pictures, on the top row is the famous portrait of Woodrow Wilson, taken in 1918. This picture was composed of 21,000 officers and men at Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio.

On the bottom row, the photograph of the Statue of Liberty (1917) was composed of 18,000 officers and men from Camp Dodge in Des Moines, Iowa.

Next to that, is the Human Shield. It contained approximately 30,000 officers and men from Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan.

I am doubtful a photo of this magnitude could be accomplished today. Originals sell in galleries for well over a thousand bucks. Like any photograph, condition of the picture is important.

Disassembled and Rearranged

(Above) Disassembled coffee maker; click for larger view.
(Above) Disassembled sandwich maker; click for larger view.
(Above) Disassembled beater; click for larger view.
(Above) Disassembled electric knife; click for larger view.
(Above) Disassembled iron; click for larger view.

A THOUGHT-PROVOKING THESIS PROJECT BY AN ENTERPRISING COLLEGE ART SCHOOL STUDENT caught my attention last night. Hartford Art School senior Britney Badger took apart cooking and cleaning appliances and systematically arranged their interior parts on a sheet of white bristol board in order to photograph the parts. Britney says her intention was “to explore the hidden ‘brains’ of these appliances; allowing us to view these everyday objects from a new perspective.” She has been selling limited edition prints on her Etsy.com web site at www.brittnybadger.etsy.com. I am really impressed by the highly conceptual nature of her project, her enterprising nature and talent.