Chromolithography

Year

1898 – 1930

Principle

Applied colors: printing

Invented by

(Technique adapted from print media and laterna magica)

Description

Widely used in print media around 1900, the chromolithographic printing process was first adapted for the Laterna Magica and then utilized to produce early animated films primarily aimed at children. These films were usually very short and projected in loops.

Soon, combined projectors for Laterna Magica and chromolithographic loops were available, and toy producers such as Ernst Plank in Nürnberg, Germany, began to offer them for sale via their mail order catalogues.

As the galleries below show, the short chromolithographic loops often present traditional subjects as well as adaptations of popular cinematographic films such as the works of pioneers Georges Méliès or the Lumière brothers.

[U-Boot]. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photograph of the chromolithographic nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
Tags
- blue
- ships
Box Der Film fürs Heimkino. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Barbara Flueckiger.
Box “Film for Home Cinema”. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Barbara Flueckiger.
Box “Attention! Celluloid Film”. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Barbara Flueckiger.
Boxes and loops. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Barbara Flueckiger.
Box and loops. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Barbara Flueckiger.
Film can for Chromolithographic Loop. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Noemi Daugaard, SNSF Filmcolors
Film can for Chromolithographic Loop. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Noemi Daugaard, SNSF Filmcolors

Galleries Hide all Galleries ×Open all Galleries ▼

Chromolithographic Loops (Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern)
(15 Images)

Chromolithographic Loops (Deutsches Filminstitut DIF)
(79 Images)