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| Edward J. Steichen, portrait of Alfred Stieglitz 1907 23.9 x 18 cm Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1955 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
The Autochrome Lumière is an early colour photography process. Patented in 1903 by Lumière brothers in France and first marketed in 1907, it was the principal colour photography process in use before the advent of subtractive colour film in the mid-1930s.
Autochrome is an additive colour “mosaic
screen plate” process. The medium consists of a glass plate coated on one side
with a random mosaic of microscopic grains of potato starch dyed red-orange,
green, and blue-violet, which act as colour filters. Lamp black fills the
spaces between the grains, and a black and white panchromatic silver halide
emulsion is coated on top of the filter layer.
Unlike ordinary black and white glass
plates, the Autochrome was loaded into the camera with the bare glass side
facing the lens, so that the light passed through the mosaic filter layer
before reaching the emulsion. The use of an additional special orange-yellow
filter in the camera was required to block ultraviolet light and restrain the
effects of violet and blue light, parts of the spectrum to which the emulsion
was overly sensitive.
Autochrome plates required much longer
exposures than black-and-white plates and films, which meant that a tripod or
other stand had to be used and that it was not practical to photograph moving
subjects. The plate was reversal-processed into a positive transparency – that
is, the plate was first developed into a negative image but not “fixed”, then
the silver forming the negative image was chemically removed, then the
remaining silver halide was exposed to light and developed, producing the
positive image.
Each starch grain remained in alignment
with the corresponding microscopic area of emulsion coated over it. When the
finished image was viewed by transmitted light, each bit of the silver image
acted as a valve, allowing more or less light to pass through the corresponding
coloured starch grain, recreating the original proportions of the three
colours. At normal viewing distances the light coming through the individual
grains blended together in the eye, reconstructing the colour of the light
photographed through the filter grains.
Wikipedia
This is part 1 of a 3-part post on Autochromes:
Autochromes from the U.S.A.
Alfred Stieglitz (1864 – 1946) was an American photographer and modern art
promoter who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making photography
an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz is known for
the New York art galleries that he ran in the early part of the 20th century,
where he introduced many avant-garde European artists to the U.S. He was
married to painter Georgia O’Keefe.
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| 1907c Alfred Stieglitz portrait of Kitty Stieglitz Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1907c Alfred Stieglitz portrait of Kitty Stieglitz Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1907c Alfred Stieglitz, Frank Eugene Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library |
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| 1907 Alfred Stieglitz, Mrs Selma Schubart 16.5 x 12.8 cm Alfred Stieglitz Collection 1955 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1907 Alfred Stieglitz, Man in Red Sweater 17.9 x 12.8 cm Alfred Stieglitz Collection 1955 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1907 Alfred Stieglitz, Man in Red Sweater 17.9 x 12.8 cm Alfred Stieglitz Collection 1955 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1907 Alfred Stieglitz, Two Men Playing Chess 9 x 12 cm cm Alfred Stieglitz Collection 1955 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1910c Alfred Stieglitz, Emmeline O. Stieglitz Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library |
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| 1910c Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Stieglitz Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library |
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| 1910c Alfred Stieglitz, Hedwig Stieglitz Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library |
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| 1910c Alfred Stieglitz, Katherine Stieglitz Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library |
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| 1911 Alfred Stieglitz, Portrait of Kitty 17.8 x 12.7 cm Gilman Collection, Purchase, Mrs. Walter Annenberg and The Annenberg Foundation Gift, 2005 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1915 Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothy O. Schubartca Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library |
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| 1915c Alfred Stieglitz, Alfred and Emmeline O. Stieglitz Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library |
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| 1917c Alfred Stieglitz, Alfred Joseph Obermeyer and Katherine Stieglitz Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library |
* * * * *
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| 1910c Wladimir Schonin, Still Life with Egg |
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| 1915c Nathan Straus, Flora Stieglitz Straus Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library |
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| 1915c Nathan Straus, Flora Stieglitz Straus Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library |
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| 1915c Nathan Straus, Jacobina Staerk Stieffel Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library |
French Autochromes:
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| 1907 -10c Louis and Auguste Lumiere ( attributed to ) Young Girl with Roses |
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| 1907-10c Louis and Auguste Lumiere ( attributed to ) Couple Seated in Garden |
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| 1910 Anonymous - A French Soldier |
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| 1910c Anonymous - Woman in Historical Costume |
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| 1910c Anonymous - Woman in Historical Costume |
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| 1910c Jules Gervais Courtellemont, Dancers with Pink Flowers 12 x 9 cm |
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| 1923 Jules Gervais Courtellemont, The Moulin Rouge, Paris |
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| 1930c Paris. Musée Nicéphore-Niépce, Chalon-sur-Saône, France |
1918 Étienne Clémentel, Monet and his Garden
Étienne Clémentel (1864 – 1936) was a French
government official with a portfolio in economics and also a close friend of
Prime Minister George Clemenceau. It was Clemenceau who took the lead (in 1914)
encouraging Monet to paint several large Water Lily panels to be donated to the
State. When Clemenceau visited Giverny in 1918 to choose the panels that were
to be installed in the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, Clémental accompanied him
and took these Autochromes.
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| 1918 Étienne Clémentel, Monet and his Garden |
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| 1918 Étienne Clémentel, Monet and his Garden |
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| 1918 Étienne Clémentel, Monet and his Garden |
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| 1918 Étienne Clémentel, Monet and his Garden |
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| 1918 Étienne Clémentel, Monet and his Garden |
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| 1918 Étienne Clémentel, Monet and his Garden |
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| 1918 Étienne Clémentel, Monet and his Garden |
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| 1918 Étienne Clémentel, Monet and his Garden |
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