Physicist Gabriel Lippmann's (1845–1921) photographic process is one of the oldest methods for producing colour photographs. So why do the achievements of this 1908 Nobel laureate remain mostly unknown outside niche circles? Using the centenary of Lippmann’s death as an opportunity to reflect upon his scientific, photographic, and cultural legacy, this book is the first to explore his interferential colour photography. Initially disclosed in 1891, the emergence of this medium is considered here through three shaping forces: science, media, and museums.
A group of international scholars reassess Lippmann’s reception in the history of science, where he is most recognised, by going well beyond his endeavours in France and delving into the complexity of his colour photography as a challenge to various historiographies. Moreover, they analyse colour photographs as optical media, thus pluralising Lippmann photography's ties to art, cultural and imperial history, as well as media archaeology. The contributors also focus on the interferential plate as a material object in need of both preservation and exhibition, one that continues to fascinate contemporary analogue photographers. This volume allows readers to get to know Lippmann, grasp the interdisciplinary complexity of his colourful work, and ultimately expand his place in the history of photography.
Author(s): Hanin Hannouch
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 314
Cover
Table of contents
Gabriel Lippmann’s Colour Photography: A Critical Introduction
Hanin Hannouch
Part I: The Science of Colour Photography and the Colour Photography of Science
1. How Lippmann Froze Light and Passed It around for Others to Taste
William R. Alschuler
2. Lippmann’s Interferential Colour Photography: A Juncture between the Histories of Spectroscopy and Photography
Klaus Hentschel
3. Colour Under the Microscope: Santiago Ramón y Cajal Does ‘Histology’ on Lippmann Heliochromes
Lazaros C. Triarhou and Manuel del Cerro
4. Lost in Description: The Misunderstanding of Frederic Ives (1856–1937) and the Experiments of his son Herbert (1882–1953) on Lippmann’s Interference Photography
Susan Gamble
Part II: Media History, Aesthetics, and Culture
5. Lippmann Photography and the Problems of Media Historiography
Jens Schröter
6. Richard Neuhauss’s Stuffed Parrot: Interferential Colour Photography, Taxidermy, and Projection
Hanin Hannouch
7. Brilliant! Enthusiasm for the Aesthetic Qualities of Lippmann’s Interferential Photography
Elizabeth Cronin
8. From Maxwell to Mercury: The Cultural History of Gabriel Lippmann’s Colour Photography
Rolf Sachsse
Part III: Contemporary Reception and Future Trajectories
9. Materiality, Identification, and Conservation of Lippmann Plates
Jens Gold
10. Exhibiting Gabriel Lippmann: A Collaborative Challenge
Pauline Martin and Carole Sandrin
11. Modern Lippmann Photography
Hans I. Bjelkhagen
12. “It’s not just a picture, it’s a magical object”: Interview with Contemporary Lippmann Photographer Filipe Alves
Hanin Hannouch
Afterword: Building Bridges over Standing Waves
Nathalie Boulouch
Index
