Gabriel Lippmann's Colour Photography: Science, Media, Museums

Physicist Gabriel Lippmann's (1845-1921) photographic process is one of the oldest methods for producing colour photographs. So why do the achievements of this 1908 Nobel laureate remain mostly unknown outside niche circles? Using the centenary of Lippmann's death as an opportunity to reflect upon his scientific, photographic, and cultural legacy, this book is the first to explore his interferential colour photography. Initially disclosed in 1891, the emergence of this medium is considered here through three shaping forces: science, media, and museums. A group of international scholars reassess Lippmann's reception in the history of science, where he is most recognised, by going well beyond his endeavours in France and delving into the complexity of his colour photography as a challenge to various historiographies. Moreover, they analyse colour photographs as optical media, thus pluralising Lippmann photography's ties to art, cultural and imperial history, as well as media archaeology. The contributors also focus on the interferential plate as a material object in need of both preservation and exhibition, one that continues to fascinate contemporary analogue photographers. This volume allows readers to get to know Lippmann, grasp the interdisciplinary complexity of his colourful work, and ultimately expand his place in the history of photography 1. The first coherent volume on Gabriel Lippmann and interferential Photography: There is not one single book dedicated to this topic, only some articles which are spread out and old. 2. It promotes a truly interdisciplinary understanding of Lippmann's photography by addressing concrete essential questions about process history, materiality, and main institutions, by presenting its other practitioners (Ramon y Cajal, Richard Neuhauss, Hermann Krone, etc.), and by tying the history of colour photography with the history of science. 3. It expands the understanding of colour photography before its emergence as a historical subject in the 1930s, which is crucial for its position in the history of the medium that I hope to strengthen, and for future media archaeology studies. It does so by situating Lippmann and his technology within a multitude of networks, disciplines, and discussions, asserting that his work was not an oddity or an exception, but rather a vivacious set of inquiries.