Beschreibung:

Views of Swiss landscapes and villages. Circa 1910. 60 autochromes. Each 12 x 9 cm and 9 x 12 cm. With original paper tape seals (small parts missing). In contemporary wooden box including original Autochrome Lumière plate box. This collection includes very atmospheric views of alpine landscapes, small villages, nature studies, farm houses, family portraits and one poetic still life with flowers in a vase. According to Gordon Baldwin autochromes were the first "really practicable photographs in color" and were made by a process invented and patented by Louis Lumière in 1904. A glass plate was coated with a varnish on which tiny grains of potato starch (first dyed red-orange, blue-violet and green) were randomly distributed in equal ratio, forming a dense mosaic color filter on the plate. Another coating of varnish and finally a gelatin-bromide emulsion, which was orthochromatic, was added over the layer of potato starch. The starch grain mosaic filtered the light so the bromide emulsion was selectively exposed by color. After being exposed the plates were developed and washed. These negatives were then placed in a chemical bath to bleach out the negative impression and after exposure to white light the plates were redeveloped, resulting in a positive colored impresson that was fixed, washed and varnished a final time. Each autochrome is a unique object and although the photographer is unknown, their vibrant colors and often poetic composition are impressive. – Generally in good condition. Lit.: Gordon Baldwin Looking at Photographs. A Guide to Technical Terms. Los Angeles, 1991, see p.10.