American Tint
The Cliff House, San Francisco, California. 1899
In 2009, I featured photochromes from the archives of the Library of Congress and New York Public Library. Putting together my recent post on Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities, I came across another large batch of them: About 1100 Detroit Photographic Co. photochromes in the Beineke Rare Book library. (Search for "Detroit" to call them all up.)
Photochromes (or "photochroms") were popular between about 1890 and 1910, passed around the world as postcards.
Photochrome process:
A litho stone was coated with a thin layer of purified bitumen dissolved in benzene. A reversed half-tone negative was then pressed against this light-sensitive coating and an exposure in daylight made (taking from 10-30 minutes in summer, to several hours in winter). The bitumen hardened and became resistant to normal solvents in proportion to the light. The coating was then washed in turpentine solutions, removing the unhardened bitumen. It was then retouched in the tonal scale of the chosen color to strengthen or soften the tones as required. Each tint needed a separate stone bearing the appropriate retouched image, and prints were usually produced by at least six, and more commonly from 10 to 15 tint stones.
Background from NYPL:
The Detroit Photographic Company originated in 1898 to promote a new color printing process in the United States and to capitalize on the public's interest in sending inexpensive pictorial greetings. In 1905 the firm became the Detroit Publishing Company, continuing to use the trade name "Phostint" for its patented color reproduction process. Western landscape photographer William Henry Jackson was long associated with the firm, bringing his and other photographers' negatives to the image stock published by the company. Photographers' names are not associated with individual postcard images, although art reproductions and illustration series are credited. Diminishing sales and rising competition from rival firms sent the Detroit Publishing Company into receivership in 1924, and its assets were finally liquidated in 1932.
Alternate description of the process: Max Ernst photoshops livestock into the xeroxed ruins of Caspar David Friedrich paintings.
Salt Air Pavilion, Great Salt Lake, Utah, c. 1901
The Sandman, Atlantic City, c.1900
Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, c. 1900
The Glory of Azaleas, Magnolia-on-the-Ashley, S. C., c. 1901
Canyon of the Rio Las Animas, Colorado, c. 1897–1924
Upper Falls of the Ammonoosuc, White Mountains, c. 1900
Jupiter Terrace, Yellowstone Park, c. 1902
A Cactus Garden in California, c. 1902
Valley of Death and the Wheat Field, Gettysburg, PA, c. 1903
Box Canyon, Ouray, Colorado, c. 1904
Illecillewaet Glacier, Selkirk Mountains, c. 1902
Crevasse Formation in Illecillewaet Glacier, Selkirk Mountains, c. 1902
On the Zig Zags, Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon, Arizona, c. 1902
St. Charles Street, New Orleans, c. 1900
The Elevated at One Hundred and Tenth Street, New York City, c. 1900
The Circle, Brooklyn, N.Y., c. 1904
Temple Square, Salt Lake City, c. 1897–1924
The Summit of Pike's Peak, 1901
Glen Afton Spring, near Pen Mar Park, c. 1903
The Beach at Atantic City, c. 1902
