Autochrome Transparency
Katchina Court at Machungnavy. Hopi 2nd Mesa. Pueblo buildings are multilayered and the stone masonry construction appears to have been initiated at various times. Some of the masonry is rough and uneven, some mortared over with adobe and in the case of the building on the right, the face of the wall is flush and corners are squared with adobe chinking between the rocks. There are windows and doorframes throughout the different stories of the pueblo. There are vigas (wooden support beams) at various levels, each extending out from the wall approximately 3-5 ft. What appears to be a small cooking pit, also constructed of stone and adobe, is visible in the courtyard.
- Object: Autochrome Transparency
- Artist: George Holt
- Circa: Early to mid 1920s
- Dimensions: 3 1/4" x 4"
- Culture Area: Southwest
- Cultural Group: Hopi (Machungnavy)
- Cultural Context: The autochrome transparencies in the Flegal collection were taken by George Holt, the donor's father. He was a chaplain for the baptist church and travelled all over the world visiting missionaries and subsequenthy photographing neophytes in various locales. The autochrome process was the first commercially successful color application of photography which enabled photographers like Holt to get high quality color photos of their subjects. However, the burden of carrying numerous unexposed glass plates to remote locations often proved cumbersome, at best. As a sidebar, the historic significance of autochrome is worth noting. As mentioned earlier, autochromes were "the first viable color photographic process." The process was patented in 1907 by Auguste and Louis Lumiere of France. "The autochrome 'screen' was created by forming a layer of minute starch grains dyed in the primary colors (red, blue, green) ..." which was over lain with a layer of lampblack (filling the space between the grains) then a layer of shellack. "So when exposed, the light traversed the glass through the grain and exposed the light/color sensitive emulsion from the back. After exposure (using a view camera on a tripod) the plate was processed to reverse in an acid dichromate-type process."
- Donor: Mrs. Carl Flegal
- Catalog #: 97.055