“The International Historiography of Early Color Photography”: Nov. 8th, 2009, Symposium on 19th Century Color Photography, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
A paper presented at the invitation of Michelle Delaney, curator of photography, History of Technology, National Museum of American History, Washington, DC.International audienceBegins with remarks on the treatment, or lack thereof, of color photography and especially early color photography in the general historiography of photography. Then examines the claim that from 1839 on the inability of early processes to record natural colors was unanimously deplored as a “problem”. Finally comes back to the affair of the "hillotype" (failed color daguerreotype process, 1850s) as a crucial episode in the history of color photography
