Timeline of Historical Colors in Photography and Film

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Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1919)
(95 Images)

Color system

Tinting (French: teintage, German: Virage)

In the framework of the Swiss research project DIASTOR Bridging the Gap Between Analog Film History and Digital Technology five differently tinted and toned nitrate prints of the famous German expressionist film Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari were analyzed for the digital color restoration of the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation in Wiesbaden. The new restoration, supervised by Anke Wilkening and executed by L’Immagine Ritrovato in Bologna, premiered at the Berlinale film festival in February 2014.

© Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Foundation for all the images, except the ones from Museo del Cine Pablo C. Ducrós Hicken, Buenos Aires.

Photographs from the historical nitrate prints by Barbara Flueckiger, except the ones from Museo del Cine Pablo C. Ducrós Hicken, Buenos Aires.

Special thanks to Paola Ferrari who was responsible for the physical restoration of the nitrate prints and to Marianna De Sanctis at Immagine Ritrovata.

Photographs from the historical nitrate prints by Barbara Flueckiger. See toned images here.

 

 

Selected Analyses:

De Fries, H. (1920): Raumgestaltung im Film. In: Wasmuths Monatshefte fur Baukunst, 5, 1921, pp. 63–82, on pp. 68–75. (in German) View Quote

Degenhardt, Inge (1996): On the absence and presence of colour in film. In: Monica Dall’Asta, Guglielmo Pescatore and Leonardo Quaresima (eds.): Il colore nel cinema muto. Bologna: Clueb, pp. 89–90. View Quote

Flueckiger, Barbara (2015 ): Color Analysis for the Digital Restoration of Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. In: Joshua Yumibe (ed.): Moving Image, 15/1, pp. 22-43 (peer-reviewed) Link to download

Street, Sarah; Yumibe, Joshua (2019): Chromatic Modernity. Color, Cinema, and Media of the 1920s. New York: Columbia University Press, on pp. 180–183. View Quote

 

 

Restoration:

Flueckiger, Barbara (2015): Color Analysis for the Digital Restoration of Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. In: Joshua Yumibe (ed.): Moving Image, 15/1, pp. 22-43 (peer-reviewed) Link to download.

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