Vivid Examples of Color Autochrome Photography From the Early 20th Century

Kings and Things took an informative look at the very early use of color autochrome photography in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which was invented by the Lumière Brothers.

It’s …an autochrome, an early form of color photography that involved using glass plates covered in microscopic grains of dyed potato starch. The process was patented in 1903 by the Lumiére Brothers.

He gives a number of examples but focuses on a specific series of photos that feature a young woman dressed in red named Christina Bevin. The photos appear modern but they were taken in 1913.

This is a photo of 16 year old Christina Bevin taken on a beach in Dorset, England. Christina passed away in 1981, but she didn’t die young. She had lived to the age of 84, and in other words, the picture was taken in 1913.