Rare Dutch Colour Photos from the 1930s

[missjo]

Around 1935 a Dutch man invented a way of making colour photos that were better then any other at the time.
He made lots of photos with his 3 lense system but the depression kept his project from becoming a sucess.
By the time he finally succeeded in marketing his film, other, bigger companies had invented a cheap colour film.

But we still have some of his amazing photos, I have selected some of the best, including shots from Amsterdam by night!
You can see them here;

http://flickr.com/photos/hab3045/sets/72157605355761018/

 

[Fletch]

Priceless. I see these old color shots and I really feel I am transported in time and place. The little rain-slicked street with the single car in 1936 - I wanted to stop in the nearest cafe, shake out my umbrella, order koffie en koekjes and wait for my shoes to dry.

The depression era was filled with new ideas, inventions, etc., that just never went anywhere because money was so hard to find. It's so great to see some of them rediscovered. Thank you Joeri!

 

[missjo]

I know what you mean, those wet dark streets are alive!
Unlike any other photo I too feel as if I can just walk into one of those doors into a nice nightclub for a drink and a dance.

 

[LizzieMaine]

These are brilliant shots. I'm fascinated by the technology here -- do you know if these were black and white negatives shot thru color filters (like Technicolor) or actual color film? Either way, great shots -- and thanks for sharing!

 

[Adele]

I agree, thank you for sharing! These photographs are great.

 

[Sefton]

I love the one showing the street with the movie theater marquee for a Marx Bros. film. Makes you feel like you can step into the photo,walk up and buy a ticket. I wonder if it was dubbed? Hard to imagine any other voice than Groucho's though...

Wonderful photographs. Thanks.

 

[missjo]

In general movies and tv in the Netherlands isnt and wasnt dubbed.
Unlike our German neighbours who dub everything that moves

The story behind the photos doesnt give us a lot of information on his technique;

Bernard F. Eilers was a colour magician. Around 1935, he created the photographic colour separation technique foto-chroma Eilers, which would make him world famous. In a time when experiments with colour photography were abundant, he succeeded in producing colour prints that far surpassed those of other fellow pioneers in terms of colour intensity and depth.

The Great Depression of the 1930s was not a good time for Eilers; few people could afford to enlist the services of a photographer. In these years, he decided to devote his leisure time to perfecting three-colour photography. His aim was to expose and print three shots on paper in a single turn. For more than a year and a half, he worked at improving the camera, the filters and the printing foils. Finally, Eilers succeeded in producing perfect colour prints. He named his technique: foto-chroma eilers. The difficult feat he had accomplished brought Eilers praise and honour, but the big photographic industries of the day soon caught up with him; around the same time, Kodak and Agfa introduced the first modern colour films.

 

[Warbaby]

Really beautiful images, missjoeri! Big-time thanks for posting them and introducing us to Eilers' work. I'm interested in both early photography and life in Amsterdam in the years just before the war, so these photos are a particularly exciting find for me.