During her recent visit at BFI in London and Berkhamsted, Barbara Flueckiger was allowed to capture the beautiful Dufaycolor films “A Colour Box” (1935) and “Kaleidoscope” (1935) by Len Lye.
The principle of Dufaycolor was adapted to motion picture film in the mid-1920s from color still photography, first as Spicer Dufay, then as Dufaycolor. The Frenchman Louis Dufay had introduced this additive process with a regular line screen pattern in 1908.
Like Gasparcolor, Dufaycolor was highly appreciated by experimental filmmakers for their color experiments in the early 1930s. Len Lye’s animation consisted of continuous film strips painted in vivid colors and then transferred to Dufaycolor prints. Thus the material body of the film differs significantly from the screened film.
Overview of some photographs of Len Lye’s Dufaycolor film “A Colour Box”, courtesy British Film Institute National Archive. Soon on Timeline of Historical Film Colors.
Update 2016: On the new search page there is a tagging system that allows searching for specific topics, such as films by Len Lye. The tagging system wil be updated continuously in the next few months.