Traube / Uvachrome
Description
“In 1916 Traube found that copper toning baths3 were especially suitable for dye mordanting and patented the Uvachrome process.4 At the time, Germany was at war with most of Europe, and little commercial progress was made until the end of hostilities. Traube exhibited beautiful Uvachrome specimens at a meeting of the Vienna Photographic Society in November 1920 (Eder 1978). In 1922 Uvachrome materials became commercially available through Uvachrome A.G. of Munich, a company Traube had founded a few years earlier (Koshofer 1976a).5 To make Uvachrome transparencies, three separation negatives were printed on celluloid films coated with a silver bromide emulsion. After regular processing steps, including developing, fixing, and drying, the films were immersed in a Uvachrome bath (the copper toner), followed by a dye bath corresponding to the separation filter color. The last step consisted of cementing the colored images into register (Fig. 8.2). Uvachrome provided brilliant, unscreened, and lightfast transparencies that were widely acclaimed for their beauty and stability. They were used for three-color reproduction in magazines, reproduction of old master paintings, and medical applications. The process remained available until 1931, when Traube moved to the United States to become the director of Powers Photo-Works in Glen Cove, New York (Wentzel 1960: 15).”
(Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, on p. 276.)
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Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 103.
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Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 277.
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Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 138.
Original Technical Papers and Primary Sources
Kelley, William Van Doren (1925): Color Photography Patents (cont.). In: Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, 24, Oct., pp. 149–161, on pp. 154-155. View Quote, Download PDF
Traube, Arthur (1920): Leserbrief. In: Die Kinotechnik, 11,2, 1920, p. 430. Repr. in: Ledig, Elfriede; Ullmann, Gerhard (1988): Rot wie Feuer, Leidenschaft, Genie, Wahnsinn. Zu einigen Aspekten der Farbe im Stummfilm. In: Elfriede Ledig (ed.) Der Stummfilm. Konstruktion und Rekonstruktion. München: Schaudig, Bauer, Ledig, 1988, pp. 89–116, on p. 95. (in German) View Quote
Traube, Arthur (1929): Farbenphotographie auf Papier. In: Die Photographische Industrie, p. 27, 188, 559, 736 and 1343.
Traube, Arthur (1931): Verfahren zur Herstellung von Dreifarben-Photographien auf Papier nach dem Absaugeprinzip. In: Photographische Korrespondenz, 67, 30.
Secondary Sources
Alt, Dirk (2011): “Der Farbfilm marschiert!” Frühe Farbfilmverfahren und NS-Propaganda 1933-1945. München: Belleville, on p. 47 View Quote and on p. 84. (in German) View Quote
Heymer, Gerd (1943): Die neuere Entwicklung der Farbphotographie. In: Ergänzungswerk zum Handbuch der wissenschaftlichen und angewandten Photographie. Wien: Julius Springer 1943, pp. 337-463. (in German) View Quote
Ledig, Elfriede; Ullmann, Gerhard (1988): Rot wie Feuer, Leidenschaft, Genie, Wahnsinn. Zu einigen Aspekten der Farbe im Stummfilm. In: Der Stummfilm. Konstruktion und Rekonstruktion. Edited by Elfriede Ledig. München: Schaudig, Bauer, Ledig, pp. 89–116 on p. 95. (in German) View Quote
Matthews, G.E. (1931): Principles and Processes of Photography in Natural Colors. In: The American Annals of Photography, 1930, pp. 222-235. Repr. in: Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, 16, 1931, pp. 188-219.
Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, on p. 276 View Quote, on p. 284 View Quote and on p. 288. View Quote
Szczepanik, Jan (1919): Kinematographie in natürlichen Farben. In: Die Kinotechnik, 1,1, (1919), pp. 9-12 and 1,2. (1919), pp. 17-20, on pp. 17. (in German) View Quote
Downloads
Kelley, William Van Doren (1925): Color Photography Patents (cont.). In: Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, 24, Oct., pp. 149–161.
Download PDF
Patents
Contemporary Reception
Mees, C.E. Kenneth (1929): The Processes of Color Photography. III. Color Cinematography. In: The Journal of Chemical Education, 6, pp. 44–51, on pp. 48–49. View Quote