Hicrography / Hicrome
Description
“In 1915 the company launched a hybrid dye imbibition color printing system called Hicrography.9 From the separation negatives, positive impressions were made through the base on the presensitized dichromated film (Hicro Film), which also contained silver chloride to keep the relief as low as possible. The films were then developed in warm water to eliminate unhardened gelatin, rinsed in cold water, and dried. Clearing of silver followed to obtain perfectly clear matrices, which were then immersed in their respective dye baths (peacock blue for the red record, magenta for the green, and yellow for the blue) until they were fully saturated. For transparencies, the three films were bound together in registration between cover glasses. For paper prints, or Hicromes, the blue film was squeegeed facedown while still wet onto a sheet of white paper and allowed to dry. The magenta and yellow films were dried separately and placed in registration over the backed blue film and cemented with amyl acetate. Variations for the blue impression existed: the peacock dye could be transferred by contact (or imbibition) onto a sheet of dampened gelatin-coated paper (Struss 1917), or a blueprint could be printed from the red separation negative (Hess-Ives 1916). Ives was the first to treat the gelatin of the receiving sheet with a dye receptor or mordant and to emphasize the importance of pH in the imbibition process (Friedman 1944: 474). Hicrome prints had pleasing tones, but the colors were not very stable and the blue dye rapidly faded (Fig. 4.9). Moreover, the printing method was too complicated to become popular and was abandoned after 1917.”
(Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, on pp. 133–134.)
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Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 134.
Secondary Sources
Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, on pp. 133–134. View Quote
