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Platinum print
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== Commercialization == While Willis had greatly advanced the chemistry of the platinum process, there was still no reliable method for the individual preparation of platinum paper by 1880. Two years, later two [[Austrian Armed Forces|Austrian Army]] officers, [[Giuseppe Pizzighelli]] and [[Arthur Baron V. Hubl]], published a [[Thesis|dissertation]] describing a straightforward process for preparing the paper. They continued their research for several years, and in 1887, Pizzighelli patented a new process that made the commercial production of platinum paper viable for the first time. The new process was briefly known as a "[[Pizzitype]]" and was marketed under the name "Dr. Jacoby's Printing Out Paper."<ref name=Eder>{{cite book| author=Josef Maria Eder|title=The History of Photography|publisher=NY: Columbia University Press|date=1945|page=545}}</ref> Willis quickly countered this advance by obtaining two more patents in 1888 for cold-bath processes. By adding more platinum to the developing process, he produced prints that had dense brown-black shadows rather than the lighter browns that were the best that previous processes could produce. While much more aesthetically pleasing, prints developed by this process were difficult to produce reliably. Four years later, Willis began manufacturing a platinum paper that was designed for the cold-bath process, and this became the standard for the rest of the decade. The business he started in 1880, called the Platinotype Company, rapidly expanded, and soon he was selling his paper throughout Europe and in the United States. By 1906, his company had sales totaling US $273,715 (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|273715|1906|2009}}}} in 2009 dollars), a significant amount at that time.<ref name=TPP /> Seeing the skyrocketing demand for platinum paper, the [[Eastman Kodak]] Company in [[Rochester, New York]], tried to develop its own line of paper starting in 1901, but they could not duplicate the quality of Willis's product. Kodak then tried to buy Willis's company but was not able to come to an agreement. Kodak instead bought the relatively new company of [[Joseph Di Nunzio]] who had recently developed his own brand of platinum paper comparable to Willis's, which he sold under the name of "Angelo". Kodak continued to sell this paper for several years before it was eventually discontinued. When Willis began marketing his paper, platinum was relatively cheap. By 1907, platinum had become 52 times more expensive than silver. Eastman Kodak and most other producers stopped fabrication of the paper in 1916. [[Russia]] controlled 90% of the world platinum supply in [[World War I]] and all available platinum was used in the war effort. Nevertheless, platinum paper has continued in use until the present, interrupted only by the world wars. Beginning in 1964, [[Irving Penn]] began experimenting with platinum printing. Penn had spent his career up to that point making photographs that were seen almost exclusively in reproduction within the glossy pages of magazines and in his pivotal 1960 book ''Moments Preserved''. Penn set himself the challenge of producing photographic prints that would surpass the technical limitations of reprographic media and deliver a deeper visual experience. He was drawn to the antiquated platinum process for its long grayscale β its ability to display a seemingly infinite array of gradations between pure white and absolute black. The platinum process requires direct contact with the negative, without enlargement, so Penn first needed to create flawless negatives the same size as the desired print. He then hand-coated paper with platinum emulsion. When dry, the paper was sandwiched with the negative and exposed to light before processing. Rigorous experimentation revealed that recoating a print with a secondary emulsion and making a second or third exposure of the same image on a single sheet of paper yielded prints of greater depth and subtlety. Penn solved the problem of aligning and re-aligning the negative and the print surface over multiple exposures by borrowing a technique from the graphic arts: he mounted his paper on a sheet of aluminum with a series of registration guides along the top edge. Penn was guarded about the preparation of his emulsions and his precise formulations varied considerably. He frequently introduced palladium and iron salts into his coatings to achieve desired effects.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.phillips.com/detail/irving-penn/NY040123/177 | title=Irving Penn - Photographs New York Tuesday, April 4, 2023 }}</ref>
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