The Photographic Historical Society of Canada is presenting a talk which examines doctor of medicine and anthropologist Richard Neuhauss' (1855-1915) use of a stuffed superb parrot as the test object of the Lippmann process; the photographic technology relying on standing waves for the rendition of colour, first disclosed in 1891 by Luxembourgian-French physicist Gabriel Lippmann (1845-1921). My research maps the use of stuffed animals in various color processes for testing the color sensitivity of emulsions as well as the photographer's own commitment to the image's genesis, focusing on this parrot as a colonial animal-object par excellence. Having photographed the parrot 300 times, I highlight the implications of Neuhauss' iconic image for the shifting relationship between color and nature within the rivalry between him and Hermann Wilhelm Vogel's three-colour printing technique. In doing so, I connect the entanglements of color photography and taxidermy in the history of science, media, and Empire.
Guest Lecture by Dr. Hanin Hannouch, Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin State Museums, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation / Max-Planck, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz.
Dr. Hanin Hannouch Guest Lecture on the Lippmann Process
Thursday, July 22, 2021
1:00 AM – 3:00 AM BST
Free but book here.
Comments
Dr. Hannouch's talk is presented by the Photographic Historical Society of Canada in Toronto, hence the peculiarity of its timing.