Dye transfer prints and matrices, 1970s-26 Oct 1978, printed 1982-1992, 2006-2007

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This series comprises:

(MSS. Schwartz photogr. B. 1-15) dye transfer prints of Bern Schwartz photographic portraits, printed by Ctein
(MSS. Schwartz photogr. B. 16-28) dye transfer matrices created and used by Ctein during the dye transfer print process.

Dye transfer printing is a specialised and labour-intensive printing process that produces distinctive prints with intense, vibrant colours. The process was designed by Eastman Kodak for producing quality prints and was the preferred process used by artists and printers in the second half of the twentieth century. The materials used to create dye transfer prints were discontinued by Kodak in the early 1990s.

Matrices are created by applying three colour-separated negatives (one red, one green, and one blue) to matrix film. These matrices are then immersed in their respective dye bath solutions:

a red filtered image is immersed in cyan dye
a green filtered image is immersed in magenta dye
a blue filtered image is immersed in yellow dye.

Once the matrices have absorbed their respective dyes, they are layered onto the receiving paper. Once the dyes have combined and created the full-colour image, the matrices are removed from the paper one-by-one.

The characteristics of dye transfer prints are evident in MSS. Schwartz photogr. B. 1-15, where there are some irregularities at the edges and some colour misregistration.

The majority of the prints are signed and dated by Ctein. A number of the prints have a Foundation reference number on the reverse. The first number is the negative frame number, the second is the roll of film number. This is an internal numbering system used by Ronny Schwartz when processing prints and is still used by Ctein when labelling individual prints or images that he has adjusted or colour corrected.

Dates

Creation: 1970s-26 Oct 1978, printed 1982-1992, 2006-2007

Language of Materials

English

Full range of shelfmarks:

MSS. Schwartz photogr. B. 1-28

Additional Description

Biographical / Historical

Ctein met Ronny Schwartz in 1982 and the two began to build and improve upon the techniques used to create chromogenic prints of Bern Schwartz's portraits (found at MSS. Schwartz photogr. J. 1/1-8/12). The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation is Ctein's oldest and largest printing client.

Despite the discontinuation of the dye transfer printing process by Kodak, Ctein had the foresight to freeze and retain some of the production materials necessary to create dye prints before the discontinuation. Although the vast majority of dye transfer prints in this collection were created by Ctein in the 1980s, his retention of materials allowed him to create some further copies of Schwartz's photographic prints in later years.

Arrangement

The dye transfer prints and matrices are kept in their original order, as arranged by The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation.

The arrangement is as follows:

(MSS. Schwartz photogr. B. 1-6) dye transfer master prints
(MSS. Schwartz photogr. B. 7-12) extra dye transfer prints
(MSS. Schwartz photogr. B. 13-15) large format dye transfer prints
(MSS. Schwartz photogr. B. 16-24) sets of dye transfer matrices
(MSS. Schwartz photogr. B. 25-28) sets of large format dye transfer matrices.

The master prints sequence (MSS. Schwartz photogr. B. 1-6) begins with prominent portrait sitters listed roughly alphabetically by surname. Some sitters are alphabetised by their official title. These boxes are followed by early prints by Bern Schwartz, such as Studio Nudes, beach landscapes, and portraits of animals. This sequence repeats again in the boxes of extra dye transfer prints and large format dye transfer prints (MSS. Schwartz photogr. B. 7-15), but with the addition of prints of sitters from Bryn Mawr College, which are also arranged alphabetically by surname.

The dye transfer matrices (MSS. Schwartz photogr. B. 16-24) also begin with portrait sitters arranged in alphabetical order by surname or, occasionally, by title. This is followed by Schwartz's early photography, portraits of animals, and Bryn Mawr College portraits.

Finally, there are four boxes of large format dye transfer matrices (MSS. Schwartz photogr. B. 25-28), used to create the large format prints. They comprise Bryn Mawr College portraits, arranged alphabetically in order of surname, followed by a selection of matrices of images of prominent portrait sitters and early Schwartz photography.