Invention
·
“No single figure can be credited
with the invention of the silver gelatin photographic process, which gradually
became the most important photographic printing process of the twentieth century”[i]
o Several key inventors: Peter Mawdsley, Josef Marie Eder, Giuseppe
Pizzighelli, and Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney[ii]
·
Silver gelatin DOPs were developed
along with the gelatin POPs in the 1840s, however, few DOPs were made from
1840-1885[iii]
·
The process requires that the
paper be exposed for a short time and then, with no image visible on the paper,
be placed in chemical developers until an image appears[iv]
·
Almost all iconic photographers of the 20th
century used silver gelatin DOP photographic material
Important Photographers
 |
Berenice Abbott
Hoboken Railroad Yard, NewJersey, 1935
Silver Gelatin Print
|
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Ansel Adams
Mt. Williamson, Sierra Nevada, from Manzanar, California, negative 1944; print 1981
Gelatin Silver Print
The J. Paul Getty Museum, gift of Carol Vernon and Robert Turbin in memory of Marjorie and Leonard Vernon
© 2014 The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust
|
 |
Richard Avedon
Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky with Brendan Behan and Beatrice ffrench-Salkeld, poets, playwright, and painter, New York, September 28, 1960, undated
Gelatin silver print
1/2 unique related prints
© The Richard Avedon Foundation
|
 |
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Hyères, France, 1932
Gilman Collection, Purchase, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gift, 2005
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005.100.460
© Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum
|
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Man Ray
Rayograph, 1922
Gelatin silver print
Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987.1100.42
© 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
|
Typical ways in which it was used
·
The silver gelatin DOP photographic
process was the most important photographic printing process of the twentieth
century
o Used for all photographic and imaging applications, including:
§ art photography
§ commercial portraiture
§ documentary photography
§ in all specialized imaging tasks from criminology to scientific
imaging (infrared photography and X-ray imaging)
o It was only in the late 1960s did the number of processed color photographs
exceed the production and processing of silver gelatin DOP photographs[v]
·
From the mid-1880s to just after
the start of the 20th century, silver gelatin POPs, silver gelatin
DOPs, and collodion POPs were in competition to replace the popular albumen
prints in the marketplace
o Since 1910, silver gelatin DOPs have dominated the market
§ Popular because of the speed of the paper and the range of colors
and surface textures available[vi]
Tips on Identification
·
Dates of common use: 1890-2000[vii]
·
DOPs vs. POPs
o DOPs have a cooler-toned paper with deep rich grays and dark blue
blacks[viii]
o POPs with have paper with warmer tones and brownish and purplish
colors[ix]
·
Image Tone:
o Over the process’s long history, silver gelatin DOPs have been
toned in a variety of colors
o Silver gelatin DOPs that have not been toned are a neutral black
color
o Common toners, popular in the 1920s and 1930s are Sepia,
Polysulfide and Selenium, which produce varying shades of brown[x]
·
Deterioration:
o Due to poor stability, early silver gelatin DOPs (late 19th
and early 20th century) can often be identified by their forms of
deterioration: yellowing and a loss of highlight detail
o Silver mirroring occurs when silver originating from the image rises
to the surface of the print which then forms a metallic sheen by a cyclic
process called oxidative-reductive deterioration[xi]
·
Layer Structure:
o The majority pf silver gelatin DOPs have either a baryta layer or
a pigmented polyethylene layer between the emulsion and the paper support that
acts to obscure paper fibers
§ Therefore, under low magnification inspection of the surface of a
print, there will be an absence of visible paper fibers (however, the presence
of paper fibers does not completely eliminate the print as a DOP)[xii]
Preservation Concerns
·
In response to fluctuations in
the temperature preservation problems are seen with silver gelatin DOPs
o Constant changes in temperature and relative humidity causes the
gelatin surface to expand and contact which results in cockling and curling of
the prints
o Hot and dry conditions cause the gelatin emulsion to become
brittle
o Under humid conditions, the gelatin can become soft and stick to
other surfaces[xiii]
·
During archival processing,
hardening agents can be added to make the emulsion tougher and therefore, more resilient
to moisture and temperature changes[xiv]
·
Gelatin prints require a
controlled and stable environment[xv]
Bibliography
Graphic Atlas. “Identification: Silver Gelatin Developed-Out
Prints (DOPs).” Image Permanence Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2015.
http://www.graphicsatlas.org/identification/?process_id =64.
Reilly, James M. Care and
Identification of 19th Century Photographic Prints. Rochester: Eastman
Kodak Co, 1986.
Ritzenthaler, Mary
Lynn, and Diane Vogt-O'Connor, with Helena Zinkham, Brett Carnell, and Kit Peterson.
Photographs: Archival care and management. Chicago: Society of American
Archivists, 2006.
Stulik,
Dusan C. and Art Kaplan. The Atlas of
Analytical Signatures of Photographic Processes: Silver Gelatin. Los
Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust, 2013.
[i] Dusan C. Stulik and Art Kaplan, The Atlas of Analytical Signatures of
Photographic Processes: Silver Gelatin (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust,
2013), 4.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii]
James M. Reilly, Care and Identification of 19th Century
Photographic Prints (Rochester: Eastman Kodak Co, 1986), 6.
[iv] Mary
Lynn Ritzenthaler, and Diane Vogt-O'Connor, with Helena Zinkham, Brett Carnell,
and Kit Peterson, Photographs: Archival care and management (Chicago: Society of American
Archivists, 2006), 46.
[v] Stulik and Kaplan, 27.
[vi] Ritzenthaler,
et. Al, 46-47.
[vii] “Identification: Silver Gelatin
Developed-Out Prints (DOPs),” Image Permanence Institute, Rochester Institute
of Technology, 2015. http://www.graphicsatlas.org/identification/?process_id
=64.
[xi] Ibid.
[xii] Ibid.
[xiii] Ritzenthaler,
et. al, 245.
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