Public Address | Cafe | Speaker: Colouring Girl

Hilary Stace

Thu, 11 Aug 2016 08:03:41 +1200

My mother's mother took her own photos and hand coloured them. She coloured beautiful photos of her four daughters (the oldest born in 1915). Here is a copy of one of her photos from the 1920s but unfortunately the colours have faded and it is not a good reproduction. Some…

Peter Alsop

Sat, 06 Aug 2016 09:20:43 +1200

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The influence of hand-colouring in early print. A hand-coloured aesthetic emerged through photochromes (chromolithography) ... likely because the lithographers and printers were used to a hand-coloured world. The photo on the right was quite possibly taken by Leo White (but not confirmed).

Peter Alsop

Sat, 06 Aug 2016 09:16:11 +1200

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A parallel industry would have been the hand painted ‘magic lantern’ slides, a vestigial art from the Victorian days and earlier
Interesting comments thx Ian. I have a coloured-glass-slides book in my sights, so would be keen to connect on that. I included a couple in this book (spread…

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 06 Aug 2016 08:52:26 +1200

my old friends at Microfilm Digital Print in Chch
Were you a ‘Copy kid’ too?
I used to work for Pandamonium Publishing that did all MF’s digital and design many years ago – I think Andrew is still there – though it’s owned by Caxton these days… I worked on…

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 06 Aug 2016 08:29:51 +1200

Modern photographic archaeology would have to consider Trade Me and eBay and the like as the most lucrative middens to scavenge through – the things one misses out on…
http://www.ebay.ie/sch/Photographic-Images/14277/i.html?_oac=1&_nkw=slide&_sop=19

There are plenty of Whites pix here (including the one above):
http://www.carters.com.au/index.cfm/index/1740-new-zealand-themes-photographs/
and
http://www.antiquesnavigator.com/price-guide/Antique-Photos_hq/7/1.html

Also ‘Somewhere’ I have a box…

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 06 Aug 2016 08:23:19 +1200

magic…
A parallel industry would have been the hand painted ‘magic lantern’ slides, a vestigial art from the Victorian days and earlier – I still regret not even having a dollar on me when in an antique shop (in ’70s Chchch) that had a whole box of these slides…

FletcherB

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 23:32:15 +1200

What a great read... thankyou for the insight...

Slightly related... one of the heirlooms I look forward to inheriting in due course is a hand coloured photograph of my deceased grandmother, taken when she was ~16ish... I'm guessing from my (imprecise) knowledge of her age when she passed away, and…

Lilith __

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 23:11:26 +1200

archival pigment-based inks for inkjet printers

ooh, link please

It’s costly and I’ve only seen it advertised in commercial settings, such as my old friends at Microfilm Digital Print in Chch. Archival prints also require acid-free printing paper.

Home-grade inkjet prints will fade after a few months on the wall.…

Sacha

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 21:51:12 +1200

archival pigment-based inks for inkjet printers

ooh, link please

Russell Brown

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 20:46:49 +1200

The title in the book changed for another reason to ‘One of the Girls’, which has a double meaning in terms of Clyde Stewart, Mr-Hand-Colouring-New-Zealand, being referred to in one of my interviews as ‘one of the girls’.

Which is really interesting. It implicitly acknowledges that this was a women's…

Peter Alsop

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 20:33:12 +1200

Some may find the Colourising New Zealand Facebook page of interest.
Brendan Graham, Colourising New Zealand, digitally coloured a photo specially for the book – and did an incredible job. I felt the book had to dip into digital colouring to recognise the relevance and influence of hand colouring in…

Peter Alsop

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 20:16:20 +1200

In the sensitive-age-of-now, just confirming that in Grace's eyes and own words, she worked with the girls. Colouring Girl was the original title for a chapter in the book (about Grace, with title sanctioned by her). The title in the book changed for another reason to 'One of the Girls',…

Russell Brown

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 19:27:36 +1200

Lucy, thx for constructively raising this concern (without an anti-Kevin-Roberts bite!) – I can understand your view. I thought with the scene-setting around ‘girls’, the context for the piece was clear but, given your fair feedback, I hope Russell will be so kind as to add some quote marks throughout.…

Lilith __

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 18:09:10 +1200

Wow, what a fascinating story! And doesn't Grace Rawson still have a steady hand and a sure touch!

A curious fact that colour photographic prints have never had the archival qualities of black-and-white, which if treated well can last 100-200 years. Colour photographs are still very prone to colour shifts…

Peter Alsop

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 18:08:18 +1200

I’ve just learned that Whites Aviation was the company of Leo White – whose grandson is ace news and feature photographer David White.

That’s right Russell. I interviewed Ross and he has been a great supporter of the book and very encouraging to me personally. I’d like to meet David…

Peter Alsop

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 17:48:12 +1200

Thx all for comments and enjoying the Whites' legacy – am enjoying the various stories and threads. The end date for Nola Mann is a little fuzzy but best I could determine from discussion with owners of Air Logistics. Hopefully we’ll hear from Nola’s kids if they hear of the…

Lucy Telfar Barnard

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 17:35:49 +1200

This is a lovely description of what looks like a lovely documentary.

Just one thing. When you write "a large Lake Taupo photograph worked on by four girls in 1963" it jars. I can cope with 'girls' in inverted commas, or maybe even "four of the girls", since they apparently…

Russell Brown

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 16:50:29 +1200

Hey, here's a thing ...

I've just learned that Whites Aviation was the company of Leo White – whose grandson is ace news and feature photographer David White.

David's dad Ross White was a photographer too.

Ian Dalziel

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 15:32:22 +1200

http://loadingdocs.net/
Also don’t miss Same but Different by Director/Producer Louise Leitch
Read more about it here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/82766773/loading-docs-short-film-depicts-friendship-that-transcends-gender-transition

TracyMac

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 14:40:55 +1200

Enjoyable piece on cultural history, thank you.

Interestingly enough, my own favourite piece of original art is a photographic landscape of trees in Taranaki, overpainted in an atmospheric style. Can't recall the artist right now, unfortunately. Piece is from the early 2000s.

In any case, some of us kiwis still…

Russell Brown

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 14:29:34 +1200

and the history of women in our workforce as cultural creators

That's what really stands out for me.

Sacha

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 14:20:28 +1200

a link to the Loading Docs film festival

http://loadingdocs.net/

Dave Patrick

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 14:14:22 +1200

My parents still have a Whites aerial photo of Ninety Mile Beach on their wall, bought when we were living in Kaitaia – so about 45 years ago. I always thought it was a colour photo, but by the sound of this It may be a colourised photo – I'm…

artig

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 13:57:58 +1200

Very interesting. Thanks. Presumably it should be Bruegel or Brueghel instead of Brugal for the prints that were around earlier. Pieter Bruegel the Elder or Jan Brueghel the Elder or Pieter Brueghel the Younger.

Stupid

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 13:57:16 +1200

Great story, thanks, nice one Greg Wood et al. An interesting history and wonderful to think that people were hired full-time to paint on photographs. My Dad Webster used to hand colour photographs in this way, I remember seeing that exact box of oil paints in the trunk in the…

paulhartigan

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 13:52:29 +1200

Congratulations to everyone involved. Astoundingly good research, succinct and inspiring – romantic too! Successfully revealing important New Zealand history, local perspectives and the history of women in our workforce as cultural creators, A fantastic insight into our past lives – love it! Hand colouring lived large on the walls at…

Joe Wylie

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 13:30:23 +1200

Marvelous piece of history, thanks so much for this.

A photo about 35x50cm would take about one morning to colour.
That's pretty quick, even by digital standards.

Some may find the Colourising New Zealand Facebook page of interest. For me the examples that don't come off are when someone has…

sandra

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 13:28:31 +1200

Great story, thanks. I was taught (a little) to touch up black and white photos using a fine paintbrush and shades of grey, black and white. Back in the 70s my parents bought a package – b/w aerial photo of the farm which was then hand-coloured and framed. Unfortunately, the…

Helga

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 13:01:16 +1200

Wonderful story! Can you give us a link to the Loading Docs film festival?

Brent Jackson

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 11:48:15 +1200

My mother used to hand colour black and white photos. I remember seeing a half finished one as a kid, and marvelling at how realistic the colours looked.

It's amazing that Nola Mann worked through to 1998. I'd've expected that the job would've demised pretty rapidly around the mid 70's…

Russell Brown

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 10:56:56 +1200

I’m just going to repost the Ohau Road pic as a comment, so you can see it a bit bigger. Click to see the full size.

Public Address

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 10:56:56 +1200

Discussion from blog post.