Whitcombe’s Bermuda Greenhouse Autochromes

whitcomb autochromeWhitcomb autochrome

Two beautiful 5×7-inch Autochromes by B.J. Whitcomb

There is no identification but these came with a group of Whitcomb autochromes.

“There is no one in photography whose work is exactly comparable to Whitcomb’s. One must look to Frank Benson, Edmund Tarbell, William Paxton, those painters of the Boston School, and their ethereal women caught up in soft color and elegant interiors, in a ‘landscape of pleasure’, to find anything comparable. Whitcombe was a master of the autochrome, but his work was forgotten. […] Whitcomb operated a studio and giftshop in Kennebunkport, Maine.” In 1985, a box of 50 of his autochromes were found in an antique shop Amarillo, Texas which included images from a trip to Bermuda with his family. “There is a beautiful, unidentified green and summery house […]” most likely the one pictured here.

The green-blue discoloration seen at the edges of these images “is due to moisture entering the broken binding tape. The autochrome’s green dye is water soluble and is the first to break down.”

(Excerpts from “The Art of the Autochrome: The Birth of Color Photography” by John Wood)

$650