![]() ![]() Regardless of the process gelatin silver prints don't endure well directs sunlight or extreme humidity and heat. ![]() The preservation of the photograph is also tied to the other processing features and the overall environment where the photograph is kept. Thus the use of Hypo Clearing Agent should be required from an archival standard print. According to the tests executed by Martin Reed using the HCA or similar solution has an important effect in the successful washing. Between the washings the print is treated with Hypo Clearing Agent or Washaid solution, which accelerates the washing by removing the chemical residue from the print. On the other hand, if the washing process isn't adequate, the residue of the chemicals will ruin the print.Īrchival standard print is fixed in two separate fixing baths and washed in at least two separate washing cycles. If this isn't done properly, the particles start darkening and the image gets spotty over time. Fixing is the last stage of the developing process, where the extra silver particles are removed from the print. Prints may also be toned with tea or coffee, but that doesn't seem to have an effect on their preservation.Ī gelatin silver print meeting archival standards needs to be fixed and washed in a certain way. The benefit of the toning is that a toned gelatin silver print endures time and preserves its contrasts and details for longer than a print without toning. The most popular and also effective toner is selenium. Researcher Gawain Weawer states that sulphide toners are the most effective toners for the preservation purposes but they tone the print with brownish colour, which is not always desired. It's a chemical process, in which often a part of the photographic silver is substituted with a more stable compound for instance gold.Īnother outcome is that the toning process reacts with the silver to produce a new compound, more stable than the silver in itself. Toning has always been considered an important aspect in the preservation of a gelatin silver print. To meet the archival standards, the print must be made on Fiber-based aka FB paper.Īnother archival standard is the toning process of the print. You may read more about photographic paper types from this Wikipedia article. The name stems from the structure of the paper. RC means Resin-coated and FB means Fiber-base. When these standards are met, the print endures time in the best possible way:īlack and white gelatin silver prints are typically made on two different paper types: RC and FB papers. The archival quality means that a gelatin silver print meets certain standards regarding its processing. You don't want it to get all yellowed and ruined in five years, right? This isn't usually required nowadays (as within the contemporary art scene the preservation of the artwork isn't that big of a deal anymore) but might be one aspect to consider when buying a print. ![]() Before the inkjet printing possibilities, the gelatin silver prints were required by the museums to be made by the archival standards. Even though the basics of the process stay the same, there are differences between artists. How do you know if a gelatin silver print endures time?Ī gelatin silver print may be made in many different ways. Read along, I’ll consider aspects on that also.Ģ. If you are not looking an artwork on your wall, but want to buy rather as an investment, that’s a bit of another question. Sometimes the artwork rouses a pricking fascination, as Roland Barthes wrote, but with a small delay. However when looking at gelatin silver prints you may want to remember their introvert nature. The main question when buying an artwork on your wall is, do you like it? If you do, I recommend to buy it but if not, then maybe you'll find another picture which fascinates you more. When you get to see the photograph on your own wall, you find out easier if it fits there. Many galleries and artists rent artworks. If you are not sure, if the picture fits on your wall, ask if you could rent it for a while. They hold often a certain enigmatic aura which invites you to return over and over again to the picture. The small size of the gelatin silver prints is however part of their fascination. In many darkrooms there's no space nor big enough trays to make large prints. Larger the gelatin silver print is, more difficult it is to make in the darkroom. The reason for the small scale is usually in their handmade origin. Gelatin silver prints look at a first glance often modest, more so than the big and colourful inkjet prints or machine made colour prints. Are you interested in buying gelatin silver print from a contemporary artist, but you don’t know which aspects to consider in the process? I wrote down five points to help you out! 1. ![]()
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