Introduction of Color Photography: Birth of Autochrome

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  • Lavédrine Bertrand
    Centre de recherche sur la conservation des collections, CNRS : USR 3224, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle

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Abstract

After having played an important pioneering role in the development of cinematography, Louis Lumière presented in 1904 to the Académie des sciences their newest invention, the autochrome. This was the first workable color photographic process that could be produced at an industrial scale. The method was ready to be marketed to the public three years later, in 1907. This miraculous technology finally introduced the colors of nature into a universe that had up to that time been dominated by monochrome images. While the technical bravado of the new method was fascinating, it was the revolutionary industrial methods used to fabricate the plates that was most impressive. Over the course of thirty years, several million autochrome plates were produced and sold throughout the world. The paper introduces the rise and decline of the Autochrome process and the technological challenges for producing autochrome plates at the Lumière factory as well.

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