Gelatin Printing out Prints (more commonly called Albumen Prints)

Gelatin printing out prints (more commonly know as albumen prints) are Curtis’ earliest and scarcest master exhibition prints. This handful of exquisite prints was printed in or proximal to 1900, when Curtis made his watershed journey to the Montana Plains to witness one of the final Piegan Sundance's.

It is likely Curtis printed these images himself, in sunlight, while on that expedition. No other photographs are as close to Curtis’ own hands. It is believed there are less than 30 surviving examples of this process. Printing out Prints are the most coveted and important photographs Curtis produced.

Following you will find noted a distinction to the albumen label. Curtis actually never printed on an albumen paper. We have termed them albumen because the medium has technically been mislabeled and we simply use "albumen" for simplicity and consistency.

The early Curtis prints we call "albumen" are actually gelatin printing out prints. The process is exactly the same for either albumen or gelatin printing out prints. The sensitized paper was placed in direct contact with a glass negative and exposed in strong light--usually sunlight. Then, the image formed on the paper while in contact with the negative and during it's exposure to light. The final image was then toned with gold for color and permanence.

The difference between albumen prints and gelatin printing out prints is in the papers. In both cases a thin layer of emulsion sits above the paper and contains the light-sensitive silver salts which react with light to form the image. In albumen prints, that emulsion is made from whisked egg whites, and therefore called albumen. In gelatin printing out prints, the emulsion is made from gelatin, which is a starch. Gelatin prints are more stable than albumen prints, because albumen decays very easily in the presence of moisture and light.

Platinum Prints

Platinum printing may be the most beautiful and exacting of all photographic printing processes. Although an exceptionally demanding and expensive medium, Curtis printed a small body of his best images in platinum. Platinum prints are Curtis’ most highly realized photographs, exhibiting miraculous tonal subtlety and resolution.

In platinum printing, platinum-based photographic emulsion saturates the paper fibers—in other processes the emulsion is suspended above them. The image thus forms within the paper, itself, resulting in a delicacy and depth that is a hallmark of Curtis’ platinum prints.

Curtis’ platinum prints were often printed on heavily-textured watercolor paper, blind stamped with a copyright credit, and signed. Due to platinum’s noble nature, these prints have aged with remarkable stability and developed superb patinas.

Silver Prints

Despite the fact that silver printing was the most popular photographic printing process of the past century, Curtis printed in it rarely. Nevertheless, his silver prints demonstrate the refinement of his other master exhibition prints.

Curtis’ other master exhibition printing processes were contact printing processes—that is, a negative needed to be placed in direct contact with the photographic paper during printing. Curtis worked with glass-plate negatives, and the size of the finished pieces was directly limited by the size of the negative. However, in silver printing, the paper could be developed from a negative in an enlarger—a device though which the image was projected onto the paper. Curtis realized the potential of the process, and printed several immense pieces, some three feet in length. These monumental prints are extremely rare.

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