Visual Culture (Photographic History) - Assignment #1 - Chromogenic Print

Developed in the 1940s a chromogenic print was one of the

most common types of colour photographs.

The full colour process involves multiple layers of silver halide

emulsion that are sensitised to different wavelengths of light.

When being developed or processed the exposed silver halides

stay present later mixing with dye couplers, the image or film

is again then put through a bleach or fix process which

removes the remaining silver halides resulting in the final

image consisting of the formerly dyed layers.Three layers of

the chromogenic film or paper present sensitivity to red, green

and blue coloured light and to form other colours and tones

cyan-coloured dye forms on the Red-sensitive layer,

magenta-coloured dye forms on the green-sensitive layer

and yellow-coloured dye is formed on the blue-sensitive layer.

Four Boots, 1992
Wolfgang Tillmans (German, born 1968)
Chromogenic print

20 3/16 x 15 1/2 in. (51.2 x 39.4 cm)
Anonymous Gift, 1995 (1995.128)

© Wolfgang Tillmans

Kolobrzeg, Poland, 1992
Rineke Dijkstra (Dutch, born 1959)
Chromogenic print

47 5/8 x 39 3/4 in. (121 x 101 cm)
Purchase, Roy R. and Marie S. Neuberger Foundation Inc., Jennifer and Joseph Duke, Gary and Sarah Wolkowitz and Anne Marie MacDonald Gifts, 2001 (2001.307)
© Rineke Dijkstra

Bibliography / Citations

The Metropolitan Museum of Art 2009, Photography: Processes, Preservation, and Conservation, viewed 5th August 2009, <http://www.metmuseum.org/special/photography2001/photo_glos.htm>

The Metropolitan Museum of Art 2009, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Rineke Dijkstra: Kolobrzeg, Poland 1992, viewed 5th August 2009,

The Metropolitan Museum of Art 2009, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Wolfgang Tillmans: Four Boots 1995, viewed 5th August 2009,

Wikipedia 2009, Chromogenic, viewed 5th August 2009,