People have been tinting photographs since the beginning of photographs, from touches of colour on the cheeks and lips of a daguerreotype, to splashes on cloth in a carte-de-visite, to intense dyes on commerical hand-tinted postcards. Sometimes the effect is subtle, sometimes garish, sometimes exceptionally beautiful. Today's photographs are the last.
This set of photographs was taken by Japanese photographer Kusakabe Kimbei in the late nineteenth century. As most of his clients were foreign, and the scenes emphasize traditional activities and costumes, I beleive it is likely that they were produced as views for visitors to Japan to take home, though I'm not certain. The collection to which they belong, the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, says nothing either way, unfortunately. If I discover more in the future I shall update.
Updated to add: many more tinted Japanese photographs of this time period can be found in the Harvard College Library--thanks to a Twitter follower for sharing this!
All captions are the titles given by the Museum of Photographic History.
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| Museum of Photographic Arts |
A Tete-a-Tete. Source
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| Museum of Photographic Arts |
A Family Group. Source
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| Museum of Photographic Arts |
A Summer Day in the Woods. Source
