Brief History
In 1830 Ferdinand Gehlen a German chemist observed the reaction of light and its effect on the metal platinum. This resulted in the beginnings of what would become platinum palladium printing. This original work was then expanded on by a Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner. Following lots of experimentation, Dobereiner found that ferric oxalate was a highly effective enhancer of the light effect that had been so weak in the work of Gehlen.
The mixture of platinum and ferric oxalate has remained the basis of the process for platinum printing. In 1832 both Sir John Herschel and Robert Hunt developed these findings in their own research, refining the chemical process and reporting the results in a book ‘Researchers on Light’ (1844). Hunt provides the first known description of using platinum and ferric oxalate to make a photographic print. Sadly, his success was limited as the prints were not permanent. He continued to work on the process for the next decade, noting that if left in the dark the prints maintained their original density but turned from a negative to a positive image that would eventually become a permanently fixed image. However, some fifteen years later an article published by CJ Burnett detailed his process using sodium chloroplatinate that enabled the image to be fixed and made permanent enough to exhibit the image to the general public. This would be a first for this process type.
The first patent was placed in 1873 for the ‘platinotype’ process. This was lodged by William Willis. He went on to place two more in 1878 and 1880. Through his own business ‘the Platinotype Company’, Willis successfully manufactured the first pre-coated platinum paper. This allowed others to achieve a more consistent and permanent image. Willis is also known for developing what was called the ‘hot bath’ method. This involved pre-coated cotton rag paper with a combination of potassium chloroplatinate and ferric oxide which had been allowed to dry and then exposing to UV through a negative. The development of the image was then made in a warm solution of potassium oxalate.
In 1882 two Austrian army officers; Giuseppe Pizzighelli and Arthur Baron V Hubl began working together and published their work in a dissertation that described a process for preparing paper for platinum printing. However, five years later Pizzighelli patented his own work which resulted in the first commercially produced paper and a process that became known as the ‘Pizzitype’. This was not to last as Willis (1888) released a patent for a cold bath process which utilised more platinum leading to much densier and darker browns. These images were considered to be more ‘aesthetically’ pleasing but not as reliable to produce. To solve this issue Willis developed a new paper that worked well with the cold bath process, and this became the norm for some years.
The Eastman Kodak company tried to develop their own version of platinum paper in the early 1900’s but were not successful. They even went to the lengths of trying to purchase the Willis company but failed to reach an agreement, so still determined they procured a company new to the market owned by Joseph Di Nunzio. Di Nunzio had developed a paper that was comparable to that of the Willis product and so Kodak kept the name of the product ‘Angelo’ and began selling to the general market.
The cost of platinum increased to over 52 times the cost of silver (the metal used in the more common process of silver gelatin) in the mid 1900’s and by 1916 Kodak and others stopped production. The situation wasn’t helped by the onset of WW1 and Russia owning nearly all of the world’s platinum. It wasn’t long however before an alternative was found in the form of palladium (‘palladiotype’). The results were similar to platinum however, the tones were considered to be warmer, with softer blacks, improved highlights and a wider tonal range. But once again the cost of the process became too high and by the 1930s the process was being phased out commercially.
It didn’t take long for the two processes platinotype and palladiotype to cross paths and become known as platinum and palladium printing, combining the best of both.
Examples of platinum and palladium photographers can be seen here.
Image selection for my Exhibition ‘Inside the Shell’ can be seen here.
The process behind printing the images for the exhibitioan can be seen here.
The work and process leading up to and including the exhibition can be seen here.
Michele Usher 