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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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| 1907 Alfred Stieglitz, Child with Striped Dress. 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 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 (image) Alfred Stieglitz Collection 1955, 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, 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, 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. 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) Young Girl with Roses |
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| 1907-10c Louis and Auguste Lumiere (attributed) 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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