--greg schmitz
Jones, Peter C. "Japan's Best-Kept Secret." APERTURE, Winter 1995 : Nr. 138,
pgs 75-78.
The prevailing Western view that nineteenth-century Japanese
photography was produced largely for Western consumption has been
challenged by Charles Schwartz, an American photography dealer and
collector who has recently amassed a large collection of Japanese
ambrotype portraits. Schwartz, who has specialized in
nineteenth-century works for twenty years, maintains that these
photographs, made by Japanese photographers exclusively for a Japanese
clientele, may represent a significant aspect of early Japanese
photography that has been overlooked by experts on both sides of the
Pacific....
Almost all ambrotype portraits are classic sixth-plates (2 3/4 by
3 1/4 inches, literally one-sixth of 6 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches full plate)
and were shot in photographers' studios and outdoors on location.
Even though the process is the same for an ambrotype positive as a
collodion negative, the typical exposure for an ambrotype was somewhat
shorter-about five seconds-and the thinner emulsion produced a more
luminous positive. Processing took about five minutes, creating
almost instantaneous results. Ambrotypes were the Polaroids of the
period.
With their precise, luminous compositions, many Japanese
ambrotypes stand in stark contrast to their Western counterparts.
Japan's heritage of fine, patient craftsmanship could account for some
of the astonishingly rich tonal quality, but most Japanese ambrotypes
were made quickly to maximize the profit, an attitude often associated
with American photographers. A more likely explanation is that
Japanese photographers working in a loose confederation throughout the
late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries made continuous
refinements to a process that Western photographers gave up in the
1860's.
Further evidence of the evolution of Japanese ambrotypes is the
nearly universal presentation of ambrotypes in kiri wood boxes. By
packaging ambrotypes in these elegant two-part boxes, Japanese
photographers took a Western process and made it their own.....Early
Japanese ambrotypes, were framed with the image reversed, and sealed
with a second sheet of protective glass. By mounting ambrotypes in
boxes, Japanese photographers were able to configure the image
directly as a positive. First a dark background was painted or
inserted in the bottom of the box. Then, using small wedges to
prevent movement, the ambrotype was placed emulsion-side down into the
box and the edges were covered with a kiri-wood overmat. The image
was now faced in the right direction and the need for a second sheet
of glass was eliminated, reducing time and materials costs.....In
addition to their light color, which is the perfect background for
calligraphy, kiriwood boxes preserve ambrotypes well because they
breathe.