Autochrome Transparency
Still life of 2 Hopi plaques, 1 Kachina, an orange and a small branch with green leaves. The plaque on the left appears to be a whirl wind pattern and is the wicker style made at Oraibi Third Mesa. The plaque on the right is the coiled bundle style with a bird motif. Coiled plaques are made on Hopi Second Mesa. The Kachina stands in profile but can be seen from a frontal view in accession number 97.071. Further research should reveal which Kachina this represents; at present the figure remains unidentified.
- Object: Autochrome Transparency
- Artist: George Holt
- Circa: Early to mid 1920s
- Dimensions: 3 1/4 x 4"
- Culture Area: Southwest
- Cultural Group: Hopi
- Cultural Context: "Plain plaited wicker basketry is made on third mesa, the principal pueblo of which is Oraibi. The spiderweb-like design...looks like a series of geometric cogged bands. 'Spiderweb' plaques might be used in the Snake Dance of the rain ceremony or in other basket dances associated with the harvest festival. The legendary Spiderwoman taught the Hopi how to weave. She also wove the rain clouds, ...(so) by using a 'spiderweb' design on the sacred plaques, the Hopi ceremonially encouraged spider woman to weave clouds that brought their life-sustaining rains." (see reference) "These bundle coiled trays from Hopi Second Mesa have three different rim finishes to which cultural significance is given." A completed rim finish is known as 'the closed gate' which was made by a widow or older woman." Conversely "the open gate" indicates the basket was made by an unmarried woman of child-bearing age. If the unfinished coil is neatly trimmed or only partly finished off, it was made by a married woman of chilbearing age." The plaque in this particular photo appears to be of the "closed gate" variety. 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 subsequently 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."0
- Donor: Mrs. Carl Flegal
- Catalog #: 97.070