Early Color Photos (40 photos)

Autochromes from the early 20th century

Children and a boat on the North Sea coast, Netherlands, ca. 1925, autochrome





Early color photographs are distinguished by an extraordinary aesthetic effect: the softness of the colors makes historical images look like paintings, which preserve a unique view of the cultural diversity of humanity in time and geography.

Many photographers at the beginning of the last century enthusiastically mastered the autochrome process, the world's first color photography technology, patented by the Lumiere brothers in 1903. It was based on the use of a layer of potato starch, the grains of which were dyed in three primary colors: red, blue and green. Autochrome (Autochrome, Autochrome photo process (French: Autochrome Lumière) is the world's first color photography technology suitable for mass use. It remained the undisputed market leader from 1907 to 1935, until the advent of the first multilayer photographic materials

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. Patented by the Lumière brothers in 1903.) required a longer exposure compared to black-and-white photography, resulting in a slight blur or haze in the images. The process was accompanied by painstaking laboratory processing, but had a number of advantages over earlier technologies. In July 1914, the first color photographs appeared in National Geographic, forever changing the style of the magazine cover. By 1938, the collection of accumulated autochromes of the publication already numbered more than 12,000 photographs.

In the old color photographs that have survived to this day: historically significant events and personalities, the daily life of peoples from different corners of the earth, world landmarks and natural beauty. The color brings them closer to modern times, and their fuzzy outlines resemble pointillist paintings.

Girl leaning against a wall. Autochrome taken in France, 1919. Photographer Gustave Hein



Portrait of Elsie Toodles Thomas in a Red Hammock, ca. 1908. Autochrome, photographer Alvin Langdon Cockburn





Portrait of Christina in the Garden, England, c. 1912. Autochrome by Mervyn O'Gorman



Familiar Flowers, England, 1919. Autochrome by Emma Barton



Two Men Playing Chess, New Jersey, 1907. Autochrome by Alfred Stieglitz



Tea Party in the Garden, autochrome, ca. 1910



French Soldiers Preparing Lunch, autochrome, ca. 1910



Dock workers on the Italian battleship Caio Duilio in the port of Genoa. Autochrome, 1910s



Woman hunting, 1920s. Autochrome, photographer Friedrich Paneth



Girl with a doll in Reims, France, autochrome, 1917



Egyptian traders near temple ruins, 1920 – 1930. Autochrome, photographer Friedrich Panet



Car by Lanchester Motor Company, autochrome, 1913



Girls in the garden, ca. 1910. Autochrome, photographer Ethelreda Janet Laing



Sisters on a Balcony, ca. 1910. Autochrome by Ethelreda Janet Laing



The Shoemaker, 1912. Autochrome by Arthur E. Morton



Newspaper vendor on the street in Reims, France, 1917, autochrome



Boat under the bridge, 1910s. Autochrome, photographer Reino Pietinen



Ladies in hats, autochrome, 1907 – 1916



Elsa, Eva and Heinz (children and wife of the photographer) sitting on the wall, 1924. Autochrome, photographer Friedrich Paneth



The Photographer's Son on the Beach, 1929-1933. Autochrome by Friedrich Paneth



Newlyweds, Sweden, 1910. Autochrome by Auguste Leon



Seven Siblings on a Fence in Quebec, Canada, 1939. Autochrome by Howell Walker



Artists on the banks of the Dordogne River, France, 1925. Autochrome, photographer Jules Gervais-Courtellemont



Fakir on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi, India, 1926. Autochrome, photographer Jules Gervais-Courtellemont



Grape pickers at the estate of Baron Langwerth von Simmern, Germany, 1928. Autochrome, photographer Wilhelm Tobien



The Holy Trinity Column (Plague Column) in Vienna, Austria, 1937. Autochrome, photographer Jules Gervais-Courtellemont



Christina on the Beach in Dorset, England, 1913. Autochrome by Mervyn O'Gorman



Reflections at the Window, 1910. Autochrome by Alphonse Van Besten



Dreams, 1909. Autochrome, photographer John Kimon Warburg



In Tampa Harbor, Florida, 1930. Autochrome, photographer Clifton R. Adams



In an Algerian Garden, 1923. Autochrome, photographer Jules Gervais-Courtellemont



Protestant Johanneskirche Church in Stuttgart, Germany, 1928. Autochrome, photographer Hans Hildenbrand



On Black Sand Beach, Hawaii, 1937. Autochrome by Richard Stuart Hewitt



Bull Riding Near Pleasanton, California, 1926. Autochrome by Charles Martin



Glacier lake in the mountains of Bavaria, Germany, 1928. Autochrome, photographer Hans Hildenbrand



In the open-air swimming pool on the banks of the Danube, Gellert Baths, 1930. Autochrome, photographer Hans Hildenbrand



In the Garden, Baden, Germany, 1928. Autochrome, photographer Wilhelm Tobien



Moulin Rouge, Paris, 1923. Autochrome, photographer Jules Gervais-Courtellemont



Actors on the lawn at Monticello, Virginia, 1928. Autochrome, photographer Jacob J. Geyer