Popular Photographic Print Processes: Woodburytypes

Ashkenazim (German Jews). Woodburytype, 1876. LC-DIG-ppmsca-13702

Dates in general use: 1870-1900

Description: A woodbury type is a photomechanical process formed by a layer of colored gelatin pressed upon a sheet of paper in a mold. The mold is photographically made from a negative and varies in its thickness according to the light and dark areas of the negative. When the colored gelatin is pressed against the paper, it takes the shape of these variations and forms the tonal gradation of the image. The color can be arbitrarily chosen, but is usually brown like other nineteenth century photographs. This is a highly permanent process, but because of its technical complexities was soon super-ceded by other methods.

Further information and examples

• Prints & Photographs Online Catalog:
  • view online examples
  • Thesaurus for Graphic Materials term: Woodburytypes [view term - includes related terms]
• Getty Institute's Art and Architecture Thesaurus:
  "Woodburytype (process)"

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