Autochrome
The autochrome is an early color photography process patented on December 17, 1903, by Auguste and Louis Lumière.
Before its commercialization in 1907, the Lumière brothers shared the autochrome technique with select photographers, such as Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky. The process was widely used from 1907 until about 1932, notably for many photographs of the First World War.
Fernand Cuville, Two French soldiers work at a smith’s hearth in a forge destroyed by grenades, 1917.
As the first industrial technique of color photography, autochrome stands out from other methods of its time due to its additive process, which records the image on a single photographic plate. Autochrome produces positive images on glass, making them transparent and suitable for screenings or stereoscopic viewing.
Stereo Richard autochrome viewer.
The plates are created by coating a glass plate with millions of microscopic potato starch grains (10 to 20 micrometers in size) dyed in red, green, and blue, and adhering them with resin. The gaps between the grains are filled with very fine carbon powder. This layer acts as a filter and is sealed with a protective lacquer during the development process. The color rendering of autochromes depends on the chemical process, offering an interpretation of reality that imparts a unique, pictorial quality to the images.
Autochromes did not require specialized cameras and enjoyed immediate success, maintaining popularity until new photographic techniques emerged in the early 1930s. The exposure time for autochromes was about one second, often resulting in staged photographs that exude an old-fashioned charm.
Arnold Genthe, Autochrome for the Book of Dance, 1920.