Product Code Database
Photo-crayotypes (also known as Chromatypes and Crayon Collotypes) were an artistic process used for the hand-colouring of photographs by the application of crayons and pigments over a photographic impression.
The following year similar processes were being touted by Sydney photographers. On 29 August 1857, three advertisements, one following the other, promoted photographs overpainted with crayons, oils or watercolours. In the first of these the photographer William Hetzer praised the way in which this process combined the merits of photography with the softness and harmony of aquatinta prints. Advertising (1857, August 29). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 3. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from nla.gov.au
In the second advertisement Freeman Brothers studio promoted their ‘Crayon Collotypes’ as combining the fidelity of photography with the brilliancy, softness, and transparency of miniatures on ivory. The last was an advertisement by Edward Dalton who was encouraging Sydney-siders to purchase his ‘Collodion Portraits’, which he believed had the delicacy and clearness of mezzotint engravings and when coloured possessed the finish and brilliancy of miniatures on ivory.
Dalton’s coloured photos must have differed in some way from the photo-crayotype he was promoting as his own discovery in 1858 but it is clear from the advertisements that the Australian photographers were using collodion plates as the basis for their images. This is significant for it means they were not using Talbot’s ‘calotype’ process which involved using paper negatives as the basis for the salt paper prints. Calotypes, Library of Congress.
On 8 December 1858, Edward Dalton exhibited ‘photo-crayotypes’ which he claimed were created using a process he had invented. Advertising (1859, January 19). Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1932), p. 3. Retrieved May 13, 2020, from Just three years earlier Dalton had been drawing portraits entirely in crayons while also working as a collodion photographer.WILFUL MURDER. (1855, November 27). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 8. Retrieved May 13, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12974024 It is possible the combining these two processes seemed a natural extension of his talents which can be seen in the colouring work done on his ‘photo-crayotype’ of Mrs Frances Jones. Family Notices (1859, February 2). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 8. Retrieved May 13, 2020, from But it is also true that Dalton’s ‘photo-crayotypes’ were similar to other processes which used photography as the base from which to overpaint with crayons, pencils, watercolours and oil paint.Henisch, H.K. & Henisch, B. (1996). The painted photograph 1939-1914: Origins, techniques, aspirations. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press.
In 1859 the Adelaide photographer Townsend Duryea also claimed to have also invented ‘crayon-photography’ but this was refuted in the South Australian Advertiser by Professor Hall. In the same article Hall pointed out that he had been using the process for the past five years and that the English photographer Mayall had taken out a patent on.
|
|
