Autochrome Transparency
This is a nice black and white photo of an Anasazi ruin located just south of Flagstaff, AZ., known as "Montezuma's Castle." It is an excellent example of an intact cliff dwelling comprised of jacal and stone masonry. Tall walls, vigas, and graneries are all visible. Two people are standing at the base of the bottom-most of four ladders that are propped up in strategic locations for access to the site. This same site can be seen in accession # 97.090, at a distance, and this gives an excellent overview of the area where the site was situated.
- Object: Autochrome Transparency
- Artist: George Holt
- Circa: Early to mid 1920s
- Dimensions: 3 1/4" X 4"
- Culture Area: Southwest
- Cultural Group: Anasazi
- 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 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."
- Donor: Mrs. Carl Flegal
- Catalog #: 97.089