An Orotone or gold tone is one of many types of photographic print which can be made from a negative. An orotone photograph is created by printing a positive on a glass plate precoated with a silver gelatin emulsion. Following exposure and development, the emulsion is coated with banana oil impregnated with gold colored pigment, to yield a gold-toned image. Alternatively, the developed glass plate can be gold-leafed by hand using 23 carat gold leaf. Other types of prints can be made with the same negative used to make an orotone. Consequently, silver gelatin prints and platinotypes (platinum, palladium) prints are also made by those who produce orotone prints.[1][2]
Then and Now
The making of orotone prints was contemporary art in the early twentieth century. Orotones are often to be seen in interiors associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. Many of these orotones are by Seattle photographer Edward S. Curtis who produced hundreds of orotone photographs of Native Americans during his career. Curtis developed the Curt-tone using techniques which he claimed were superior.[3]
 Vatican Museums Double Spiral Orotone print by Sally Larsen, 1983 |
Sally Larsen (who gold-leafs each developed plate by hand)[4] and Ryan Zoghlin are modern practitioners of orotone photography.
References
- ^ Mick Gidley, Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian, Incorporated. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
- ^ Theresa Thau Heyman, Pioneer Photography of the Great Basin. Sierra Nevada Museum of Art, 1984
- ^ Gerald Hausman and Bob Kapoun (ed.), Prayer to the Great Mystery: The Uncollected Writings and Photography of Edward S. Curtis, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1995
- ^ Lyle Rexer, Photography's Antiquarian Avant-garde, the New Wave in Old Processes, Abrams, New York, 2002, p. 78/79, ISBN 0-8109-0402-0
External links
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