Preliminary photographs and improved positives: discovering the New York Public Library’s Arctic Exploration album
Abstract In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, original photographs were sent to publishers so that they could be reproduced in print. The photographs often needed to be reworked with overpainting and masking, and such modifications were especially necessary for low-contrast photographs to be r...
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2021
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40494-021-00506-3 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s40494-021-00506-3.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40494-021-00506-3/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1186/s40494-021-00506-3 2023-05-15T14:59:10+02:00 Preliminary photographs and improved positives: discovering the New York Public Library’s Arctic Exploration album Basso, Elena Pozzi, Federica Keister, Jessica Cronin, Elizabeth Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40494-021-00506-3 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s40494-021-00506-3.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40494-021-00506-3/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Heritage Science volume 9, issue 1 ISSN 2050-7445 Archeology Archeology Conservation journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-021-00506-3 2022-01-04T08:31:08Z Abstract In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, original photographs were sent to publishers so that they could be reproduced in print. The photographs often needed to be reworked with overpainting and masking, and such modifications were especially necessary for low-contrast photographs to be reproduced as a letterpress halftone. As altered objects, many of these marked-up photographs were simply discarded after use. An album at The New York Public Library, however, contains 157 such photographs, all relating to the Jackson–Harmsworth expedition to Franz Josef Land, from 1894 to 1897. Received as gifts from publishers, the photographs are heavily retouched with overpainting and masking, as well as drawn and collaged elements. The intense level of overpainting on many of the photographs, but not on others, raised questions about their production and alteration. Jackson’s accounts attested to his practice of developing and printing photographs on site, testing different materials and techniques—including platino-bromide and silver-gelatin papers—to overcome the harsh environmental conditions. In this context, sixteen photographs from the album were analyzed through a combination of non-invasive and micro-invasive techniques, including X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), Raman and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies, and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). This analytical campaign aimed to evaluate the possible residual presence of silver halides in any of the preliminary and improved photographs. The detection of these compounds would be one of several factors supporting a hypothesis that some of the photographs in the album were indeed printed on site, in the Arctic, and, as a result, may have been impacted by the extreme environment. Additional goals of the study included the evaluation of the extent of retouching, providing a full characterization of the pigments and dyes used in overpainted prints, and comparing the results with contemporaneous photographic publications that indicate which coloring materials were available at the time. Further analyses shed light on the organic components present in the binders and photographic emulsions. This research has increased our knowledge of photographic processes undertaken in a hostile environment such as the Arctic, and shed light on the technical aspects of photographically illustrating books during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Franz Josef Land Springer Nature (via Crossref) Arctic Fors ENVELOPE(20.500,20.500,65.700,65.700) Franz Josef Land ENVELOPE(55.000,55.000,81.000,81.000) Harmsworth ENVELOPE(160.933,160.933,-78.683,-78.683) Heritage Science 9 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Archeology Archeology Conservation |
spellingShingle |
Archeology Archeology Conservation Basso, Elena Pozzi, Federica Keister, Jessica Cronin, Elizabeth Preliminary photographs and improved positives: discovering the New York Public Library’s Arctic Exploration album |
topic_facet |
Archeology Archeology Conservation |
description |
Abstract In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, original photographs were sent to publishers so that they could be reproduced in print. The photographs often needed to be reworked with overpainting and masking, and such modifications were especially necessary for low-contrast photographs to be reproduced as a letterpress halftone. As altered objects, many of these marked-up photographs were simply discarded after use. An album at The New York Public Library, however, contains 157 such photographs, all relating to the Jackson–Harmsworth expedition to Franz Josef Land, from 1894 to 1897. Received as gifts from publishers, the photographs are heavily retouched with overpainting and masking, as well as drawn and collaged elements. The intense level of overpainting on many of the photographs, but not on others, raised questions about their production and alteration. Jackson’s accounts attested to his practice of developing and printing photographs on site, testing different materials and techniques—including platino-bromide and silver-gelatin papers—to overcome the harsh environmental conditions. In this context, sixteen photographs from the album were analyzed through a combination of non-invasive and micro-invasive techniques, including X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), Raman and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies, and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). This analytical campaign aimed to evaluate the possible residual presence of silver halides in any of the preliminary and improved photographs. The detection of these compounds would be one of several factors supporting a hypothesis that some of the photographs in the album were indeed printed on site, in the Arctic, and, as a result, may have been impacted by the extreme environment. Additional goals of the study included the evaluation of the extent of retouching, providing a full characterization of the pigments and dyes used in overpainted prints, and comparing the results with contemporaneous photographic publications that indicate which coloring materials were available at the time. Further analyses shed light on the organic components present in the binders and photographic emulsions. This research has increased our knowledge of photographic processes undertaken in a hostile environment such as the Arctic, and shed light on the technical aspects of photographically illustrating books during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. |
author2 |
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Basso, Elena Pozzi, Federica Keister, Jessica Cronin, Elizabeth |
author_facet |
Basso, Elena Pozzi, Federica Keister, Jessica Cronin, Elizabeth |
author_sort |
Basso, Elena |
title |
Preliminary photographs and improved positives: discovering the New York Public Library’s Arctic Exploration album |
title_short |
Preliminary photographs and improved positives: discovering the New York Public Library’s Arctic Exploration album |
title_full |
Preliminary photographs and improved positives: discovering the New York Public Library’s Arctic Exploration album |
title_fullStr |
Preliminary photographs and improved positives: discovering the New York Public Library’s Arctic Exploration album |
title_full_unstemmed |
Preliminary photographs and improved positives: discovering the New York Public Library’s Arctic Exploration album |
title_sort |
preliminary photographs and improved positives: discovering the new york public library’s arctic exploration album |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40494-021-00506-3 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s40494-021-00506-3.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40494-021-00506-3/fulltext.html |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(20.500,20.500,65.700,65.700) ENVELOPE(55.000,55.000,81.000,81.000) ENVELOPE(160.933,160.933,-78.683,-78.683) |
geographic |
Arctic Fors Franz Josef Land Harmsworth |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Fors Franz Josef Land Harmsworth |
genre |
Arctic Franz Josef Land |
genre_facet |
Arctic Franz Josef Land |
op_source |
Heritage Science volume 9, issue 1 ISSN 2050-7445 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-021-00506-3 |
container_title |
Heritage Science |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766331299067330560 |