It’s a Colorful World
Oct 28, 2015 | by Ellen Dial
Mark Twain, ca. 1909
If you’re a history buff like me, you have a thing for old photographs – it’s fun to see how people dressed (awesome!) and looked (pretty much how we do now) back in the day. But there’s always something missing – color. The world appears to have been black, white with some gray thrown in for good measure – pretty much, well, monochromatic.
Creating a Colorful History – One Potato at a Time
Apparently, everyone wore black (and this is wrong?), had dark hair and their surroundings were bland. No color! Even the vintage frocks we all adore are not as bright was we would expect and there seems to have been a lot of black… Of course, until the late 1920’s, cloth was primarily dyed utilizing vegetable dyes. These dyes fade with laundering, age and exposure to sunlight, so stuff can look a bit drab.
Well, the past wasn’t drab. Not in the least! The subjects in our favorite vintage photos led vividly colored lives. They craved color. Wore color. Were drawn to rich, saturated colors – surrounding themselves in a myriad of vivid hues.
Men decked themselves out in brightly colored waistcoats, cloaks and ties. Women were attired in flattering ensembles- gorgeous in their richly hued dresses, highlighting their blond or red tresses, coupled with rich, creamy complexions.
It’s fantastic to see our favorite vintage couture and historical figures in glorious, living color.
But wait!
Didn’t real color photography start in the early to mid-20th century? I mean, “Wizard of Oz” was shot in both b/w and color! What about “Gone with the Wind” – wasn’t it one of the first full color movies? That color WWII documentary on the History Channel? Or the lovely, hand tinted daguerreotypes of the 19th century? Weren’t they color?
Yes and yes. But…. How did it start?
Let’s click through the autochrome process and take a look at how these gorgeous, color photos from the early 1900’s through the 1920’s came into being, shall we?
Let’s go!
Mrs Selma Schubart (rockin’ her Fortuny!), ca 1907
A Colorful Past | The Brothers Lumiere
Before 1906 or so, color photographs were painstakingly hand tinted and one has to wonder about the accuracy. The experimental “color” photography up until this time was dodgy at best, as well as being extremely difficult, involving three cameras and old style Photoshopping… There was no good way to create color photos en masse with relative ease. Oh, the concept was there, and as early as 1860 or so, the desire for color photography was a thing (hence the hand tinting and dodgy experiments), but it was beyond the ken and technology of the day. The real color of life was primarily captured on canvas – left to the perception of the artist.
Enter two fabulous French inventors – Auguste and Louise Lumiere.
For many years, their family factory in Lyon had been pumping out camera-ready photo plates, and the brothers had been noodling with color since the 1890’s. Portrait, newspaper and the Avant Gard artists experimenting in the new pictorialism used their high quality product. These successful brothers had it going on.
But, their customers wanted something more – COLOR!
That desire for something more, for the presentation of life in realistic color, led to the creation of the autochrome process.
Woman in a Green Dress, ca 1909
How did they do it? A detailed, technical explanation lives here, it’s a bit dry – but the gist? They figured out that in dying tiny particles of potato starch red-orange, violet and green, they could – by mashing this mix on their plates and filling the potential “blank spaces” with carbon black – allow photographers to create color pictures. Neither super easy- each photo required a 60+ second exposure time, nor inexpensive (it became the hobby of the well to do and famous established artists) – but it could be done in a more “on demand” fashion than ever before.
It’s a Colorful World | Mad for Color
After patenting the process in 1906 (or ‘07, you decide) the brothers Lumiere were ready for the big time. Soon, the famous early 20th century photographers Alfred Stieglitz (hubby to famed artist Georgia O’Keefe) Edward Steichen (aka Hottie McHotterson) and the dashing Alvin Coburn ,were completely color mad…
“The palette and canvas are a dull and lifeless medium by comparison” – Edward Steichan
“I have the color fever badly” – Alvin Coburn
Artists were sold on documenting life and presenting their art in the round, warm and life-like palette of autochrome. Wealthy hobbyists jumped on the bandwagon as well, creating some truly gorgeous representations of the world around them. So much so, that the factory in Lyons had problems keeping up with demand.
The famous, infamous and not so famous all clambered to get their portrait done in color. The world was suddenly a more colorful place – not so monochrome, after all!
Take a look at the examples I’ve included – one gets the feeling of viewing these warm, richly hued pictures through a filter. Everything’s all soft and cozy. You also get the impression of Georges Seurat’s fascinating painting technique, known as pointillism.
Why?
Go back to the teeny, tiny potato pieces… turn of the century pixilation in all its glory! Furthermore, these photos were typically viewed using a Diascope, which presented the images in mirror-reverse and removed the black fill used in the process-making the colors much more vivid.
Unknown Lady (with fantastic style!)
What we see today, without the aid of devices and because the process is/was very fragile, are softly focused, dream like images in living color. Rich and beautiful.
One must marvel at the saturation of the color and the technological creativity that went into the production of these surviving images.
And we think we’re the bombs of technological advances!
It’s a Colorful World | Then and Now
In our current culture of oversharing, the thought of being unable to simply whip out your iPhone and snap your lunch, new outfit or take a casual photo of your BFF is inconceivable! NOT in color? And I can’t post it on Instagram, FB or Flickr? No selfie stick for the bride?
What?
No darling, you couldn’t.
Back in a time when one wasn’t compelled to share each and every experience, regardless of how mundane, with the masses, photography was something special. An event.
Christina in the Garden, 1913
Photographic images were cherished – somewhat rare and and used to show a brief space in time, capture the likeness of loved ones and document momentous occasions and/or experiences. They were well thought out and usually planned. Albums were brought out to reminisce, entertain and educate. The famous and infamous were photographed, it was used to memorialize the dead (memento mori – perhaps more on this at a later time), for erotica (natch!) and document world events.
Autochrome took this to the next level – for 30 years. It was eventually beaten out by Kodachrome, Afgachrome and the 35mm camera… Bringing color to life. Nurturing a demand for the vivid color images we’ve come to know and expect.
The next time you take a picture of your low carb, organic, vegan, non-GMO, gluten-free pizza for Instagram…. Thank the Lumiere brothers, they started a colorful revolution.
To our dear reader: Do you typically prefer color or b/w photography – and why? What is your impression of autochrome?
The author would like to thank: Wikipedia.com, biography.com, smithsonian.com, The Tate, MOMA, The American Museum of Photography and theartstory.com. As well as those who post their images freely on the Internet.