In Memoriam: Wystan
State Street storefronts from U-M campus, 1908; detail of a postcard from the Detroit Publishing Company
The postcard is from the Detroit Publishing Company, which had acquired American rights to the Photochrom process, developed in Switzerland, that employed a sequence of several lithographic stones to achieve subtle gradations in color. Since color photography had not yet been invented, all postcard photos were initially black and white shots, and colors, if any, were inserted during the printing phase. Detroit Publishing had the best color process in the U. S., at a time when most postcards were printed in Germany, where printing technology was far advanced.
State Street storefronts from U-M campus, 1908; detail of a postcard from the Detroit Publishing Company
The postcard is from the Detroit Publishing Company, which had acquired American rights to the Photochrom process, developed in Switzerland, that employed a sequence of several lithographic stones to achieve subtle gradations in color. Since color photography had not yet been invented, all postcard photos were initially black and white shots, and colors, if any, were inserted during the printing phase. Detroit Publishing had the best color process in the U. S., at a time when most postcards were printed in Germany, where printing technology was far advanced.