Jos-Pé
Description
“Invented by G. Koppmann and introduced in Hamburg in 1924 by the German financier Josef-Peter Welker, from whom the product took its name (Wall and Jordan 1940: 330), Jos-Pé was a complete color system that included a one-exposure camera, printing plates (glass) or films (celluloid), and printing materials.10 It was the first commercial imbibition process to make use of tanning development to harden the gelatin surrounding the silver image, a phenomenon that had been disclosed in 1881 by Leon Warnerke (1837–1900). To make the matrices, sheets of glass or celluloid were coated with a dichromated silver–bearing gelatin layer and printed through the base with separation negatives. The matrices were developed in a tanning developer, which hardened the gelatin where there was a silver image; without fixing, they were immersed in warm water to eliminate unhardened gelatin, then dried. To make a color print, a sheet of transfer paper was soaked in water and successively squeegeed in register with the three dyed matrices (Newens 1931: 36) (Fig. 4.10). Prints could be finished with a coat of wax for added gloss and saturation of colors (BJP 1926).”
(Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, on pp. 135–136.)
Secondary Sources
Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, on pp. 135–136. View Quote