Vivid gallery of Meiji era B&W photographs touched up with water color:
The people of Japan, living in a society of extreme politeness and formality which regarded life as a series of ceremonial acts, showed little interest in Beato's black and white documentary photographs of landscapes, village and trades-people. In an effort to infuse photography with traditional Japanese aesthetics and to gain a greater acceptance for his work, Beato, who was familiar with both the long history of the Japanese colored woodblock prints and the practice of adding color highlights to photographs in Europe, decided to start hand coloring his albumen prints. Working with Wirgman, an accomplished watercolorist, they began selling their delicately tinted photographs. The Japanese people loved them at once, feeling that they were truly Japanese, as was a silk kimono, a painted fan, or a lacquer.Photographic View of MeijiVia
Geisha AsobiDiscuss
