my 1st post, be gentle: hillotypes

[doctorno]

Just found this forum, and seems like a great place for my simple (ish) question: theoretically, what would/should one do with a color hillotype? sell it? store it? donate it? test it? as far as I know, most are currently residing in the Smithsonian, but perhaps not all of them.

[TheFlyingCamera]

If you are not certain of your ability to properly care for it, I would make an appointment with the conservators of a major museum and A: verify that it is in fact a Hillotype, and if it is genuine, donate it for a fat tax write-off, or B: contact Sothebys and/or Christies auction houses and see about putting it in a sale. They're very rare beasts so I think valuation would be hard to determine but it would definitely be valuable.

[Whiteymorange]

Welcome to APUG, doctorno. Though I can't help you with the Hillotype, I can say welcome aboard. This is a great place to ask questions you think others might find simple. I have found very few here who are not willing to answer a simple question in a civil and helpful way––with a refreshing lack of attitude.

[doctorno]

If you are not certain of your ability to properly care for it, I would make an appointment with the conservators of a major museum and A: verify that it is in fact a Hillotype, and if it is genuine, donate it for a fat tax write-off, or B: contact Sothebys and/or Christies auction houses and see about putting it in a sale. They're very rare beasts so I think valuation would be hard to determine but it would definitely be valuable.

Thanks for your response - it's n by Levi Hill; it's by someone who succeeded at reproducing Hill's work around 30 years ago. And while it's pretty effectively stored today, it's not a longterm solution. I have no true guess re: its worth, but the Sothebys
approach is interesting...If I decided to donate it, any thoughts of an appropriate museum home? FYI the Smithsonian already holds its sister image so they are not interested - havent inquired anywhere else.

[Jeff Kubach]

Hello and a warm welcome to APUG. I wish I can help you, but I don't I know much about Hillotype.

Jeff

[M.A.Longmore]

.
Welcome To APUG Doctorno !

Thanks: I Learned Something New Today !

Ron
.

[Ray Rogers]

A good question.
Luckily, I have a few thoughts on the answer.

While it is nice, for future students of the process and history, to have similar materials in a single collection or a single geographical area, this is not my favorite solution.

First of all, wars and natural disasters happen.

Secondly, for large institutes such an item would be just another number in a long list of numbers, while at a smaller place, it might be more likely to be displayed and displayed more often.

Thirdly, in this case, I think that in a way, the process is perhaps more important than the image per se....

Recreation being what it is, the image is (a sort of) proof,
but the process used to produce the recreation must be more important than any single image produced by it.

Lastly, (I am sleep typing) it would be nice to "celebrate"
both the process, and it's recreator
rather than incresing the wealth of an institute already up to it's armpits in gold dust.

A few thoughts from the sleeping typist...

Ray

[doctorno]

A good question.
Luckily, I have a few thoughts on the answer.

While it is nice, for future students of the process and history, to have similar materials in a single collection or a single geographical area, this is not my favorite solution.

First of all, wars and natural disasters happen.

Secondly, for large institutes such an item would be just another number in a long list of numbers, while at a smaller place, it might be more likely to be displayed and displayed more often.

Thirdly, in this case, I think that in a way, the process is perhaps more important than the image per se....

Recreation being what it is, the image is (a sort of) proof,
but the process used to produce the recreation must be more important than any single image produced by it.

Lastly, (I am sleep typing) it would be nice to "celebrate"
both the process, and it's recreator
rather than incresing the wealth of an institute already up to it's armpits in gold dust.

A few thoughts from the sleeping typist...

Ray

Appreciate the observations Ray.

I agree that the top objective shouldn't be to 'get paid' (although we all have our price lol..). Far more important should be a guarantee for the protection/longevity of the image, the appreciation of Hill's process, and the effort that was undertaken to reproduce that process. Storing it in some warehouse a la Indiana Jones as merely Item #534-9586 wouldn't feel appropriate either. Periodic public display, long-term curation, and respect/appreciation for it's importance to the history of the art (as well as concrete proof of Hill's process) - that sounds fitting to me.

Unfortunately, as I'm not familiar with - well - ANY parts of this world (rare photographic images/antiquities/museum collections/you name it), this will obviously be a learning process!

[Prof_Pixel]

Thanks for your response - it's n by Levi Hill; it's by someone who succeeded at reproducing Hill's work around 30 years ago..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Hill says, in part, "Photography professor and historian Joseph Boudreau compounded the archaic chemistry and replicated the techniques described by Hill in A Treatise on Heliochromy in 1981, and was able to recreate Hillotype plates in distinct, verifiable, muted colors, including red, green, blue, yellow, magenta, and orange; these colors were all produced by the action of light alone, without the application of dyes or pigments."

[doctorno]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Hill says, in part, "Photography professor and historian Joseph Boudreau compounded the archaic chemistry and replicated the techniques described by Hill in A Treatise on Heliochromy in 1981, and was able to recreate Hillotype plates in distinct, verifiable, muted colors, including red, green, blue, yellow, magenta, and orange; these colors were all produced by the action of light alone, without the application of dyes or pigments."

ding-ding; we have a winner!

Actually Prof Pixel, I knew all that - I'm his son :-)