Re: Eastman House gum prints
Etienne,It was a bit of a problem in the past. I don't know if that is still true. I lived in Rochester for many years, visited GEH hundreds of times, and knew a number of the employees and conservators personally. They all had horror stories of thefts by visitors. Last I knew, GEH had begun to restrict access to at least some materials to people (generally academics) with a "legitimate research interest." What were you researching at GEH personally? I left GEH today 350 pages of gum practice richer. I just cannot believe their resources. With my time limit I ended up finally having to take digipix of pages for reading when I get home, there was so much. Probably a lot will be repeats of similar things, of course, but then you come across a tidbit here or there that is a real gem. And, with digipix costing nothing, a digicam really is a lifesaver. I had mentioned about a gum I saw that looked duotone, warm brown and black plus a white layer in the highlights only (and one that had the white layer printed over the entire image, no neg, as a sort of veil effect). Then I came across an article where it talked about printing a white layer in the highlights only--guess how? (Doh!) By coating the paper with a white layer and exposing through the back of the print so the print acts as its own negative! It mentions to brush off the white if any is left in the shadow areas of the print. Can't wait to see if it actually works or was just an author suggesting hearsay... Chris
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