History Of Hand Tinting Photographs
Only in the early 19th century, photography was initially introduced. One hundred and fifty years ago it was exciting and an incredible novelty. But within a short span of time when Daguerreotypes first started to appear, one problem which was very glaring, was that they did not have color. Photographers immediately introduced retouching and editing in their darkroom. They started using multiple negatives and created composite montages and photos, they softened and blurred parts of images and darkened some. Knives and inks were used to etch or draw directly onto the negatives, enhancing details.
Many attempts were attempted to add color to photographs, but everything failed. The most viable option was to add color to the photographic images. Benjamin Stevens and Lamuel Morse from Massachusetts were the first Americans to patent coloring Daguerreotypes. They used the method of applying gum or varnish and then painted on it. Two types of coloring were employed , one was hand-tinting where light painting was done and the other one was done by applying heavier pigments called over painting. The quality of these hand-tinted photos were according to the colorists skill.
In 1842, Danier Davis was the one to patent coloring daguerreotypes by electroplating. Levis.L. Hill, in 1850 announced the process of applying natural colors to daguerreotypes. Sales of hand colored and uncolored daguerreotypes fell due to this new technology. Though only in Europe hand coloring was introduced, the technique became famous in Japan from 1860 by William Parke Andrew and Charles Parker. Another notable Japanese photographer was Yokoyama Matsusaburo who used his repertoire skills to create shasin-abura-e.
Golden age of hand colored photography was between 1900 and 1940. Nutting, an England minister, pursued hand tinted landscape photography as his hobby till 1904. Between 1915-1925, hand tinted landscape photos became very popular. In 1929 during Great Depression, sales of these photos diminished. Hans Bellmers photos of his doll sculptures in 1930s became an example of hand tinted photos in Europe during this period. Luiz Marquez, was the art adviser and official photographer of Mexican pavilion in 1939-40 Worlds fair. In 1937, he presented James.V.Alfred, the Texas Governor with his collection of hand-tinted photos.
By 1950s, the popularity of color films, almost stopped hand colored photographs production. Popularity of collectibles and antiques upsurged and this brought in a upsurge in hand colored photographs. Since 1970, there was a revival of hand coloring photographs. Artist photographers like Elizabeth Lennard, Kathy Vargas, Rita Dibert and Jan Saudek were the ones to revive hand coloring in this period. Robert Rauschenberg and some others, combined painting photographic media which represented a precursor to the revival of hand coloring.
Though color processes of high quality are available, hand tinted or colored photographs are popular in this modern world due to aesthetic reasons and due to the permanence of the pigments. In countries where in color films were expensive and rare or where the color processing was not available, hand coloring was preferred. More recently, in advertising fields, processing digital image to recreate the look and effect of hand tinting is being done.
Many attempts were attempted to add color to photographs, but everything failed. The most viable option was to add color to the photographic images. Benjamin Stevens and Lamuel Morse from Massachusetts were the first Americans to patent coloring Daguerreotypes. They used the method of applying gum or varnish and then painted on it. Two types of coloring were employed , one was hand-tinting where light painting was done and the other one was done by applying heavier pigments called over painting. The quality of these hand-tinted photos were according to the colorists skill.
In 1842, Danier Davis was the one to patent coloring daguerreotypes by electroplating. Levis.L. Hill, in 1850 announced the process of applying natural colors to daguerreotypes. Sales of hand colored and uncolored daguerreotypes fell due to this new technology. Though only in Europe hand coloring was introduced, the technique became famous in Japan from 1860 by William Parke Andrew and Charles Parker. Another notable Japanese photographer was Yokoyama Matsusaburo who used his repertoire skills to create shasin-abura-e.
Golden age of hand colored photography was between 1900 and 1940. Nutting, an England minister, pursued hand tinted landscape photography as his hobby till 1904. Between 1915-1925, hand tinted landscape photos became very popular. In 1929 during Great Depression, sales of these photos diminished. Hans Bellmers photos of his doll sculptures in 1930s became an example of hand tinted photos in Europe during this period. Luiz Marquez, was the art adviser and official photographer of Mexican pavilion in 1939-40 Worlds fair. In 1937, he presented James.V.Alfred, the Texas Governor with his collection of hand-tinted photos.
By 1950s, the popularity of color films, almost stopped hand colored photographs production. Popularity of collectibles and antiques upsurged and this brought in a upsurge in hand colored photographs. Since 1970, there was a revival of hand coloring photographs. Artist photographers like Elizabeth Lennard, Kathy Vargas, Rita Dibert and Jan Saudek were the ones to revive hand coloring in this period. Robert Rauschenberg and some others, combined painting photographic media which represented a precursor to the revival of hand coloring.
Though color processes of high quality are available, hand tinted or colored photographs are popular in this modern world due to aesthetic reasons and due to the permanence of the pigments. In countries where in color films were expensive and rare or where the color processing was not available, hand coloring was preferred. More recently, in advertising fields, processing digital image to recreate the look and effect of hand tinting is being done.
