Olive Borden / Edward Curtis, hand-colored by Emma G. Hoffman, courtesy of Revere Auctions.

Early cinema captured the attention of filmgoers through its realistic depiction of everyday life, enhanced by gorgeously crafted images and heart tugging acting. It grew out of what was called real photo postcards, those providing a documentary look at a place and people, as well as stereoptican cards and lantern slides, which offered a more visceral means of storytelling. To enhance these static images, color was often applied, adding beauty and vivacity but also accentuating the important story element of the image. Mostly men served as photographers and cinematographers in these first decades, but forgotten women behind the scenes applied the hand coloring which dazzled audiences with its visual impact and beauty.

The detailed, meticulous work handcoloring postcards, lantern slides, and 35mm film frame by frame was accomplished by the exhausting work of women artists, who dominated this trade at the end of the nineteenth century. Just like with cutting film later, they headlined these fields due to what many called their attention to detail and their preciseness. As a trade story noted, “Lantern slide coloring should offer special opportunities to women, ‘for it requires a delicacy of handling and a keenness for artistic perception which are more easily met with in women than in man… .” As another story put it, “There is no limit of age for this work, but it is essential that a lantern slide colorist should possess good eyesight and steady, sensitive hands. Indeed, it is apparently work peculiarly suitable for women.’ Continue reading →