Monday, February 07, 2005

Color photography from the early 1900s

In Living Color

We're used to thinking of people in the early 1900s as living in a black-and-white world. But color photography, though experimental and rare, did exist then, and some fine examples are exhibited in The Empire That Was Russia: The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated (A Library of Congress Exhibition). The addition of color makes these turn-of-the-century folks seem less stiff and iconic--more human--than the monochrome photography of the time would have rendered them, I think. And the photos have the odd effect of seeming both modern and archaic. (I think I've linked to this site before, but more photos have been added now.)

See also Color photos from World War I -- apparently made using a different process. (Long load time.) More here.

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