Editing Cyanotype (section)

== History ==
{{Alternative photography}}
The cyanotype was discovered,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ware |first=Mike |date=Winter 1998 |title=John Herschel's Cyanotype: Invention or Discovery? |journal=History of Photography  |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=371–379|doi=10.1080/03087298.1998.10443901 }}</ref> and named thus, by [[John Herschel|Sir John Herschel]], who in 1842 published his investigation of light on iron compounds,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Herschel |first=John F. W. |date=1842 |title=On the action of the rays of the solar spectrum on vegetable colours, and on some new photographic processes |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/973449546 |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London |language=en|volume=132 |pages=181–214 |bibcode=1842RSPT..132..181H |oclc=973449546}}</ref> expecting that photochemical reactions would reveal, in a form visible to the human eye, the [[infrared]] extreme of the [[electromagnetic spectrum]] detected by his father [[William Herschel]] and the ultraviolet or "[[Actinism|actinic]]" rays that had been discovered in 1801 by [[Johann Wilhelm Ritter|Johann Ritter]]. Though [[Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner]] had published in 1831 in German on the light-sensitivity of [[ferric oxalate]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=Döbereiner, Johann Wolfgang. In, A Dictionary of Scientists |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-19-280086-2 |editor-last=Market House Books |language=en}}</ref><ref>Döbereiner, Johann Wolfgang "''Zur chemischen Kenntnis der imponderabilien in der organischen Natur''," dissertation in {{Cite book |last=Baier |first=Wolfgang |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3132088 |title=A source book of photographic history = Quellendarstellungen zur Geschichte der Fotografie |date=1965 |publisher=Fotokinoverlag |location=Leipzig |language=de|oclc=3132088}}</ref> of which Herschel became aware during his visit to [[Hamburg]], it is too lightly toned to form a satisfactory image and would require a second reaction to make a permanent print.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Eder |first1=Josef Maria |last2=Epstean |first2=Edward |url=https://doi.org/10.7312/eder91430 |title=History of Photography |date=1945 |doi=10.7312/eder91430 |isbn=978-0-231-88370-2 |oclc=1104874591}}</ref>

[[Alfred Smee]] had in 1840 used [[electrochemistry]] to isolate a pure form of potassium ferricyanide,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smee |first=Alfred |date=September 1840 |title=On the Ferrosesquicyanuret of Potassium |journal=Philosophical Magazine |series=Series 3 |volume=17 |issue=109 |pages=193–201}}</ref> which he sent to Herschel, whose innovation was to use the ammonium [[iron(III) citrate]] or tartrate, then commercially available as an [[Patent medicine|iron tonic]] and also introduced to him by Smee, for photographic purposes. He mixed the ammonium ferric citrate in a 20% aqueous solution, with 16% of the potassium ferricyanide, to make the sensitizer for coating plain paper. Exposed to sunlight, the ferric salt is reduced, then combines with the ferricyanide to yield ferric ferrocyanide - Prussian blue (also known as Turnbull's blue, or Berlin Blue in Germany).<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203941782 |title=Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography |date=2013-12-16 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9780203941782 |isbn=978-0-203-94178-2 |editor-last=Hannavy |editor-first=John}}</ref> Intensifying and fixing is achieved simply by rinsing the print in water in which unexposed sensitizer and reaction products are readily soluble.

[[Anna Atkins]], a friend of the Herschel family, over 1843–61 and with the assistance of Anne Dixon, hand-printed several albums of botanical and textile specimens, especially ''Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions,''<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Atkins |first1=Anna |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1062398057 |title=Sun gardens: cyanotypes by Anna Atkins: [exhibition New York public library du 19 octobre 2018 au 17 Novembre 2019 |last2=Schaaf |first2=Larry John |last3=Chuang |first3=Joshua |date=2018 |publisher=New York Public Library |isbn=978-3-7913-5798-0 |language=en |oclc=1062398057}}</ref> effectively the world's first photographically illustrated books.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schaaf |first=Larry |date=April 1982 |title=Anna Atkins' Cyanotypes: An Experiment in Photographic Publishing |journal=History of Photography |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=151–72|doi=10.1080/03087298.1982.10442730 }}</ref> After the Antarctic [[Ross expedition]] (1839–1843), John Davis, artist and naturalist on the expedition, made or commissioned some cyanotypes in 1848 from seaweeds collected on the voyage.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Newton |first1=Gael |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/19222178 |title=Shades of light: photography and Australia, 1839–1988 |last2=Ennis |first2=Helen |last3=Long |first3=Chris | date=1988 |publisher=Australian National Gallery: Collins Australia |isbn=978-0-642-08152-0 |location=Canberra |language=en|oclc=19222178}}</ref> Also in the Antipodes, Herbert Dobbie, in imitation of Atkins, produced a book ''New Zealand ferns: 148 varieties,'' but with double-sided pages of cyanotype prints, in 1880.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dobbie |first1=Herbert |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/155885797 |title=New Zealand ferns: 148 varieties |last2=Haigh |first2=Elizabeth |date=1880 |language=en |oclc=155885797}}</ref>

[[John Mercer (scientist)|John Mercer]] in the 1850s used the process for printing photographs onto cotton textiles, and discovered means of toning the cyanotype violet, green, brown, red, or black.<ref name=":7" />

As with all of his photographic inventions, Herschel did not patent his cyanotype process. Chemist George Thomas Fisher Jr. quickly disseminated information on the new medium internationally in his popular 50-page manual ''Photogenic manipulation in 1843, containing plain instructions in the theory and practice of the arts of photography: calotype, cyanotype, ferrotype, chrysotype, anthotype, daguerreotype, and thermography,''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fisher |first=George Thomas |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/491515258 |title=Photogenie manipulation: containing plain instructions in the theory and practice of the arts of photography, calotype, cyanotype, ferrotype, chrysotype,... |date=1843 |publisher=G. Knight and Sons |location=London |language=en|oclc=491515258}}</ref> which the following year was translated into German and Dutch. The medium was immediately taken up and perfected by notable photographic practitioners of the time, including [[Henry Fox Talbot|William Henry Fox Talbot]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maimon |first=Vered |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1065707839 |title=Singular images, failed copies: William Henry Fox Talbot and the early photograph |year=2015 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-1-4529-5352-6 |oclc=1065707839}}</ref> and [[Henry Peter Bosse|Henry Bosse]]. The latter, in making fine presentation albums of bridges and structural steel, foresaw an appropriate effect in colour; the intense blues of his refined cyanotypes from large glass plates were printed on fine French paper 37&nbsp;cm x 43.6&nbsp;cm, and watermarked ''Johannot et Cie. Annonay, aloe's satin'' and leather bound.<ref>Charles Wehrenberg, ''Mississippi Blue, Henry P. Bosse and his Views on the Mississippi River'', Twin Palms 2002, {{ISBN|0-944092-98-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Moon |first=Abby |title=The Expressive Potential of Bosse's Landscapes, In Cyanotypes: Photography's Blue Period |publisher=Worcester Art Museum |year=2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wehrenberg |first1=Charles |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/83749664 |title=Mississippi blue: Henry P. Bosse and his views on the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and St. Louis, 1883–1891 |last2=Bosse |first2=Henry |date=2001 |publisher=Solo Zone |isbn=978-1-886163-14-0 |location=San Francisco, Calif. |language=en|oclc=83749664}}</ref>

Commercial use came only in 1872, the year after Herschel's death. Marion and Company of Paris were first to market the cyanotype, under the proprietary name of "Ferro-prussiate", for reprography of plans and technical drawings and to advantage due to its low cost and simplicity of processing, which required only water. In this application and with the manufacture of blueprint papers, it remained the dominant reprographic process until the 1940s.<ref name=":7" /> During the  217-day [[Siege of Mafeking]] of the town of Mafeking ([[Mafikeng]]) in South Africa during the [[Second Boer War]] from October 1899, the process was used to print stamps and banknotes.<ref name=":11" />

The simple technology of the cyanotype, though, remained accessible in the nonindustrial realm and contributed to [[folk art]]; Francois Brunet notes the cyanotypes on cloth used by American home quilt-makers after 1880,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=McMorris |first1=Penny |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/13643272 |title=The art quilt |last2=Kile |first2=Michael |date=1986 |publisher=Quilt Digest Press |isbn=978-0-913327-08-1 |location=San Francisco |language=en|oclc=13643272}}</ref> and [[Geoffrey Batchen]] cites 30 or more early cyanotyped family snapshots on cloth, sewn into pillow slips or quilts, in the collection of Eastman House.<ref name=":7" /> [[Sandra Sider]] perpetuates this tradition in her own quilt-making and as a proponent for increased museum acquisitions of art quilts.<ref>{{cite magazine| last = Sider| first = Sandra| date = 2016| title = Contemporary art quilts in U.S. museum collections| url = https://www.saqa.com/memberArt.php?ID=3387| magazine = Art Quilt Collector| location = Hebron, Ct| publisher = Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc.| access-date = 2022-04-12| archive-date = 2020-04-21| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200421020936/http://www.saqa.com/memberArt.php?ID=3387| url-status = dead}}</ref>

The cyanotype produced negatives, reversing the darks and lights of the image or object exposed on it, but Herschel also contrived a version, though more complex, to produce positives, which he hoped would aid in his ambition to achieve images of full natural colour. Its difficulties were overcome by Henri Pellet in 1877 in his gum arabic iron ''cyanofer'' direct positive  photographic tracing method,<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Duchochois |first=Peter C |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1305965796 |title=Photographic Reproduction Processes |date=2007 |language=en|oclc=1305965796}}</ref> which he commercialised.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=June 1878 |title=Popular Miscellany: Copying designs by photography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aywDAAAAMBAJ&dq=Pellet+cyanofer&pg=PA251 |journal=Popular Science |volume=13 |issue=9 |pages=251}}</ref>