Hand-colouring of photographs

Monochrome (black and white) photography was first exemplified by the daguerreotype in 1839 and later improved by other methods including: calotype, ambrotype, tintype, albumen print, and gelatin silver print. The majority of photography remained monochrome until the mid-20th century, although experiments were producing colour photography as early as 1855 and some photographic processes produced images with an inherent overall colour like the blue of cyanotypes.

In an attempt to create more realistic images, photographers and artists would hand-colour monochrome photographs. The first hand-coloured daguerreotypes are attributed to Swiss painter and printmaker Johann Baptist Isenring, who used a mixture of gum arabic and pigments to colour daguerreotypes soon after their invention in 1839.[2] Coloured powder was fixed on the delicate surface of the daguerreotype by the application of heat. Variations of this technique were patented in England by Richard Beard in 1842 and in France by Étienne Lecchi in 1842 and Léotard de Leuze in 1845. Later, hand-colouring was used with successive photographic innovations, from albumen and gelatin silver prints to lantern slides[3] and transparency photography.

Parallel efforts to produce coloured photographic images affected the popularity of hand-colouring. In 1842 Daniel Davis Jr. patented a method for colouring daguerreotypes through electroplating,[4] and his work was refined by Warren Thompson the following year. The results of the work of Davis and Thompson were only partially successful in creating colour photographs and the electroplating method was soon abandoned. In 1850 Levi L. Hill announced his invention of a process of daguerreotyping in natural colours in his Treatise on Daguerreotype.[5] Sales of conventional uncoloured and hand-coloured daguerreotypes fell in anticipation of this new technology. Hill delayed publication of the details of his process for several years, however, and his claims soon came to be considered fraudulent. When he finally did publish his treatise in 1856, the process – whether bona fide or not – was certainly impractical and dangerous.

With the advent of photographic emulsions on glass came the potential to make enlargements from them, but for the lack of a sufficiently strong light source to project them on to the receiving emulsion as prints on paper, canvas or other supports. The solar camera, employing the focussed light of the sun, addressed the problem in a repurposing of the solar microscope[6] by American portrait artist David Acheson Woodward in 1857,[7] and others, before being superseded by enlargers employing artificial light sources from the 1880s. Life-size portraits made by this means were hand coloured in crayon or overpainted in oils and were popular into the 1910s.

Hand-colouring remained the easiest and most effective method to produce full-colour photographic images until the mid-20th century when American Kodak introduced Kodachrome colour film.

Original monochrome photo

Hand-coloured version

Print by Stillfried & Andersen between 1875 and 1885

Though the hand-colouring of photographs was introduced in Europe, the technique gained considerable popularity in Japan, where the practice became a respected and refined art form beginning in the 1860s. It is possible that photographer Charles Parker and his artist partner William Parke Andrew were the first to produce such works in Japan, but the first to consistently employ hand-colouring in the country were the photographer Felice Beato and his partner, The Illustrated London News artist and colourist Charles Wirgman.[8] In Beato's studio the refined skills of Japanese watercolourists and woodblock printmakers were successfully applied to European photography, as evidenced in Beato's volume of hand-coloured portraits, Native Types.

Another notable early photographer in Japan to use hand-colouring was Yokoyama Matsusaburō. Yokoyama had trained as a painter and lithographer as well as a photographer, and he took advantage of his extensive repertoire of skills and techniques to create what he called shashin abura-e (写真油絵) or "photographic oil paintings", in which the paper support of a photograph was cut away and oil paints then applied to the remaining emulsion.[9]

Later practitioners of hand-colouring in Japan included the firm of Stillfried & Andersen, which acquired Beato's studio in 1877 and hand-coloured many of his negatives in addition to its own.[10] Austrian Baron Raimund von Stillfried und Ratenitz, trained Japanese photographer and colourist Kusakabe Kimbei, and together they created hand-coloured images of Japanese daily life that were very popular as souvenirs.[8] Hand-coloured photographs were also produced by Kusakabe Kimbei, Tamamura Kozaburō, Adolfo Farsari, Uchida Kuichi, Ogawa Kazumasa and others. Many high-quality hand-coloured photographs continued to be made in Japan well into the 20th century.

A typical ad for a photographic colorist, Seattle, 1917

The so-called golden age of hand-coloured photography in the western hemisphere occurred between 1900 and 1940.[11] The increased demand for hand-coloured landscape photography at the beginning of the 20th century is attributed to the work of Wallace Nutting. Nutting, a New England minister, pursued hand-coloured landscape photography as a hobby until 1904, when he opened a professional studio. He spent the next 35 years creating hand-coloured photographs, and became the best-selling hand-coloured photographer of all time.[12]

Between 1915 and 1925 hand-coloured photographs were popular among the middle classes in the United States, Canada, Bermuda and the Bahamas as affordable and stylish wedding gifts, shower gifts, holiday gifts, friendship gifts, and vacation souvenirs. With the start of the Great Depression in 1929, and the subsequent decrease in the numbers of the middle class, sales of hand-coloured photographs sharply diminished.[12]

Despite their downturn in popularity, skilled photographers continued to create beautifully hand-coloured photographs. Hans Bellmer's hand-coloured photographs of his own doll sculptures from the 1930s provide an example of continued hand-colouring of photographs in Europe during this time.[13] In Poland, the Monidło is an example of popular hand-coloured wedding photographs.

Another hand-colour photographer, Luis Márquez (1899–1978), was the official photographer for and art adviser of the Mexican Pavilion at the 1939-40 World's Fair. In 1937 he presented Texas Governor James V. Allred a collection of hand-coloured photographs. The National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City has an extensive Luis Márquez photographic archive, as does the University of Houston in Texas.[14]

By the 1950s, the availability of colour film stopped the production of hand-coloured photographs. The upsurge in popularity of antiques and collectibles in the 1960s, however, increased interest in hand-coloured photographs. Since about 1970 there has been something of a revival of hand-colouring, as seen in the work of such artist-photographers as Robin Renee Hix, Elizabeth Lennard, Jan Saudek, Kathy Vargas, and Rita Dibert. Robert Rauschenberg's and others' use of combined photographic and painting media in their art represents a precursor to this revival.

In spite of the availability of high-quality colour processes, hand-coloured photographs (often combined with sepia toning) are still popular for aesthetic reasons and because the pigments used have great permanence. In many countries where colour film was rare or expensive, or where colour processing was unavailable, hand-colouring continued to be used and sometimes preferred into the 1980s. More recently, digital image processing has been used – particularly in advertising – to recreate the appearance and effects of hand-colouring. Colourization is now available to the amateur photographer using image manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop or Gimp.

Basic dyes are used in the hand-colouring of photographs. Dyes are soluble colour substance, either natural or synthetic, in an aqueous solution, as opposed to pigments which are generally insoluble colour substance in an aqueous suspension. Aniline dyes, the first synthetically produced dyes originally used for the dyeing of textiles, were first used to dye albumen prints and glass transparency photographs in Germany in the 1860s.[15] When hand-colouring with dyes, a weak solution of dye in water is preferred, and colours are often built up with repeated washes rather than being applied all at once. The approach is to stain or dye the print rather than to paint it, as too much paint will obscure photographic details. Blotting paper is used to control the amount of dye on the surface by absorbing any excess.

Watercolour paint has the virtue of being more permanent than dyes, but is less transparent and so more likely to obscure details. Hand-colouring with watercolours requires the use of a medium to prevent the colours from drying with a dull and lifeless finish. Before the paint can be applied, the surface of the print must be primed so that the colours are not repelled. This often includes prepping the print with a thin coating of shellac, then adding grit before colouring.[16] Watercolour paint used in photographic hand-colouring consists of four ingredients: pigments (natural or synthetic), a binder (traditionally arabic gum), additives to improve plasticity (such as glycerine), and a solvent to dilute the paint (i.e. water) that evaporates when the paint dries. The paint is typically applied to prints using a soft brush. Watercolours often "leave a darker edge of colour at the boundaries of the painted area."[17] Since different pigments have varying degrees of transparency, the choice of colours must be considered carefully. More transparent pigments are preferred, since they ensure greater visibility of the photographic image.

Oil paint contains particles of pigment applied using a drying oil, such as linseed oil. The conventions and techniques of using oils demands a knowledge of drawing and painting, so it is often used in professional practice. When hand-colouring with oils, the approach is more often to use the photographic image simply as a base for a painted image. The ability to create accurate oil portraits using a photographic base lent itself to art crime, with some artists claiming to paint traditional oil portraits (for a higher price) when actually tracing a photograph base in oils. Therefore, the choice of oil colours is governed by the relative transparency of the pigments to allow for authentication of the photographic base. It is necessary to size the print first to prevent absorption of the colours into the paper. In the past, photographic lantern slides were often coloured by the manufacturer, though sometimes by the user, with variable results.[18] Usually, oil colours were used for such slides, though in the collodion era – from 1848 to the end of the 19th century – sometimes watercolours were used as well.

The use of crayon or pastel sticks of ground pigments in various levels of saturation is also considered a highly skilled colourist's domain, as it requires knowledge of drawing techniques. Like oils, crayons and pastels generally obscure the original photograph, which produces portraits more akin to traditional paintings. The Photo-crayotype, Chromotypes and Crayon Collotypes were all used to colourize photographs by the application of crayons and pigments over a photographic impression.[19] Charcoal and coloured pencils are also used in hand-colouring of photographs and the terms crayon, pastel, charcoal, and pencil were often used interchangeably by colourists.

Hand-coloured photographs sometimes include the combined use of dyes, water-colours, oils, and other pigments to create varying effects on the printed image. Regardless of which medium is used, the main tools to apply colour are the brush and fingertip. Often the dabbing finger is covered to ensure that no fingerprints are left on the image.

Dyes and watercolours require similar preservation measures when applied to hand-coloured photographs. Like the photographs themselves, watercolours and dyes applied by hand to photographs are susceptible to light damage and must be housed in dark storage or displayed under dim, indirect light. Common particulate pollutants can cause watercolour pigments to fade, but the paint surface can be cleaned by lightly dusting with a soft brush to remove dirt.[26]

Oil paint was often applied to tintypes, daguerreotypes, and ambrotypes.[17] As with all photographs, the materials respond negatively to direct light sources, which can cause pigments to fade and darken, and frequent changes in relative humidity and temperature, which can cause the oil paint to crack. For photographs with substantial damage, the expertise of an oil paintings conservator might be required for treatment.[27]

A framed hand-coloured daguerreotype (c. 1850) from the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY.[28]

Crayon and pastel hand-coloured photographs have a powdery surface which must be protected for preservation purposes. Historically, crayon and pastel coloured photographs were sold in a frame under a protective layer of glass, which was often successful in reducing the amount of handling and smudging of the photograph surface.[29] Any conservation work on crayon or pastel colour-photographs must retain these original frames and original glass to maintain the authenticity and value of the object. If the photograph is separated from its original enclosure, it can be stored in an archival quality folder until it is framed or cased.

Hand-coloured cabinet photograph (c. 1875) from the State Library of New South Wales. The photograph is mounted to a paper backing sheet and shows evidence of degradation.[30]

In the United States, many commercially sold, hand-coloured photographs were packaged and framed for retail sale.[31] Early 20th century hand-coloured photographs were often mounted on mat-board, placed behind a glass frame, and backed by wood panel slats, cardboard, or heavy paperboard. A backing sheet was often glued to the back of the mat-board. Unfortunately, the paper products produced and used during the late-19th and early-20th centuries are highly acidic and will cause yellowing, brittling and degradation of hand-coloured photographs. Metallic inclusions in the paper can also oxidize which may be the cause of foxing in paper materials. Wood panel slats will also off-gas causing further degradation of the photographs.

Simple conservation of these fragile materials can be carried out by the adventurous amateur. A hand-coloured photograph should be removed from the frame, retaining any original screws or nails holding the frame together. Wood panels, acidic cardboard slats, and acidic backing paper can be removed from the frame and mat-board and discarded, retaining any identifying information such as stamps or writing on the backing paper. The mat-board on which the photograph is mounted, even though acidic in nature, cannot be removed and replaced due to the intrinsic value of this original mounting. Often the artist's signature and the title of the photograph are inscribed on the mat-board. The best way to limit degradation is to store the photograph in a cool, dry atmosphere with low light. The hand-coloured photograph should be replaced in its original frame, held in place with archival quality acid-free paper paperboard, and closed with the original nails or screws.[32]