Twentieth-Century Color Photographs ─ Identification and Care

With the advent of digital imaging, the era of traditional color photography is coming to an end. Yet more than 150 years after the invention of color photography, museums, archives, and personal collections are full of images to be cherished, studied, and preserved. These photographs, often made with processes and materials no longer used or easily identified, constitute an important part of the cultural and artistic heritage of the twentieth century. Today it is more important than ever to capture the technical understanding of the processes that created these irreplaceable images.

In providing an accessible overview of the history and technology of the major traditional color photographic processes, this abundantly illustrated volume promises to become the standard reference in its field. Following an introductory chapter on color photography in the nineteenth century, seven uniformly structured chapters discuss the most commercially or historically significant processes of the twentieth century—additive color screen, pigment, dye imbibition, dye coupling, dye destruction, dye diffusion, and dye mordanting and silver toning—offering readers a user-friendly guide to materials, methods of identification, and common kinds of deterioration. A final chapter presents specific guidelines for collection management, storage, and preservation. There is also a glossary of technical terms, along with appendixes presenting detailed chronologies for Kodachrome and Ektachrome transparencies, Cibachrome/Ilfochrome printing materials, and Instant films.

This book will interest instructors and students in classroom settings; conservators, registrars, curators, archivists, and collection caretakers; and anyone else concerned with the long-term preservation of color photographs.

Sylvie Penichon is a conservator of photographs at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth. She has published widely in conservation and photography journals.