I posted some digitized pictures of pre-WWI Russia
from a Libary Of Congress exhibition around the same
time last year(looking for a link)....I surely hope
the method catches on more....
They don't look colourised to me. I'm pretty sure they are genuine Tournassoud colour photos.
Only the French used colour photography during WW1, but is was a very, very expensive technique, hence the very high quality photos.
I saw the one with the glum looking Senagalese troops years ago, most of the rest I have not seen before. They are very rare. Only the French have them, as the British and Americans did not use Colour photograpy. There are however shots of british soldiers that were taken by Tournassoud.
The Autochrome was patented on 17 December 1903 but not unveiled to the Academy of Science until 30 May 1904, which is why its centennial is celebrated in 2004.
The start of the 20th century saw thousands of photographs being taken all over the world using this transparency process, which Louis Lumière considered to be his masterpiece.
This open-air exhibition features largesize reproductions of many Autochromes, all of which are from the original Lumière Collection, with the aim of making them accessible to the general public. The photographs include a variety of family scenes and also a number of shots given to Louis Lumière by Autochrome-using friends, such as pictures of the Great War taken by Jean-Baptiste Tournassoud.
The Lumière Institute is located on the site where the Cinematographe and the Autochromes were invented. Its mission, as entrusted by Louis Lumière’s heirs, is to promote this heritage and bring it to the attention of the whole world.
The Lumière Institute joined forces with the Rhône Regional Authorities to design this exhibition as a way of paying tribute to the first-ever colour photographs in the department where they were invented.
THE HISTORY OF THE AUTOCHROME
Louis Lumière had already invented instant photographic plates and the Cinematographe when, in late 1903, he and his brother Auguste patented a new process for producing colour photographs : the Autochrome.
Before the invention of the Autochrome, colours were separated using a complex three-colour process whereby three successive exposures had to be taken and then superimposed onto each other. Louis Lumière, however, devised a method of filtering light by using a single three-colour screen made up of millions of grains of potato starch dyed in three different colours. This mixture was then laid out on a varnished glass plate, which would be ready for use once it was coated in a black and white emulsion. Developing the plate entailed applying the same process as was used for black and white photographs at the time, with the impression being processed to reversal.
As with pointillist painting, the colour effect is rendered by viewing the image in its entirety, since the colours are created from the juxtaposition of the multitude of dots; indeed, the essential charm of these photographs derives from that very juxtaposition.
Finally, in 1907, after years of work, the Autochrome was launched onto the market and met with immediate and longlasting success – it was to be another thirty years before anything else came along to compete with it, and that was when chemical colour processes were devised to do on film what this delicate transparency process did on glass.
As the grand-children of Louis Lumière, we are delighted to see this exhibition presented at the Departmental Hall, which is a most fitting way of launching the celebration of the centennial of the Lumière Autochrome.
Our grand-father often used to tell us that he considered the Autochrome to be the invention of his life, saying: "It took me seven years of tireless effort. I did nothing else during that time. I never once got disillusioned."
While it only took him a few months to develop his Cinematographe and project moving images on to a screen, producing colour photographs proved to be a much more tricky proposition. He devoted enormous time and energy to his creation, and the fruit of his labours did justice to his commitment: even today, there can be no denying the indescribable beauty and technical splendour of the photographs made possible by the Autochrome. It was invented in 1904, and when it hit the markets in 1907 it brought colour photography within the reach of everyone.
From a personal point of view, we are deeply touched to see so many family scenes and portraits among the images on display, including pictures of our mothers and those that were dear to them. We hope that the people who come to admire this exhibition will savour the beauty of a superb technique and appreciate a looking through a window on times gone-by.
Louis Lumière’s grand-children
This is one old-skool thread (and I dont mean the pics). It was written back in the day when this forum was enjoyable and interesting and before it degenerated into a racism-filled hole when the likes of the Chinese and Iranian contingents appeared flaming everything.
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This message has been edited by JDN21 on Jul 25, 2006 12:06 PM
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Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States 1924-1929
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I agree JDN; I've been reading this forum for years and it seems to be at a low point right now. Unfortunately the increase in membership and readership seems to have brought more trolls and immature posters, without a corresponding crackdown by mods on this sort of stuff.
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Che Guevara:
A rather naive Marxist mass-murderer, who carried out Revolutionary "Justice" in Cuba, normally with a pistol to the temple. Drove Cuba's economy into the ground as its head by having a system where supply and demand did not dictate price, but the "social worth" of the item in question. Relished the idea of a global nuclear war between Socialism and Imperialism/Capitalism, and firmly believed that "The People" would be grateful for such a conflict. After falling out of favour in Cuba, he tried to sell himself as a wandering revolutionary in South America, so determined to "help the people" that he wasn't bothered with trifling little details about who they were and what they wanted (he tried to sell a communist revolution to Bolivian natives, who owned their own land and were perfectly happy and therefore told him to sod off). Ended up getting topped in Bolivia by CIA trained soldiers.
Che Guevara is idolised by all kinds of naive students and marxists who are more interested in the myths about the man than what he actually did
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