Early Colour Photography and its Contexts in Britain, 1890 to 1935

19世纪末，当彩色摄影出现在工业化社会时，它吸引了科学和美学两方面的兴趣。从1890年到1935年，在近50年的时间里，彩色摄影的可及性发生了巨大变化，在20世纪30年代末，伊士曼柯达的柯达彩色反转技术得到了广泛应用，达到了顶峰。Kodachrome重新定义了摄影业。它被誉为近一百年来致力于找到一种方法来制作负担得起的实用彩色照片的解决方案，并取得了如此成功，以至于到20世纪40年代初，它已经取代了大多数竞争的彩色制版。这项研究挑战了流行的观念，即柯达彩色之前的彩色摄影产业的繁荣是科学不断发展的结果。它展示了资本主义的变革和关于色彩的文化观念的变化如何在这一时期促成了彩色摄影产品的构思和交付。尽管大多数新成立的彩色摄影企业都失败了，但引进的大量和技术多样性的过程表明，广泛的利益相关者具有巨大的创造活力。通过思考色彩在当代英国社会中的意义，以及支撑该行业的经济和社会网络，本论文旨在更好地理解1890年至1935年之间竞争激烈、充满活力的早期彩色摄影市场。

When colour photography emerged in industrialised societies in the late nineteenth century it attracted both scientific and aesthetic interest. Over the course of nearly fifty years, from 1890 until 1935, the accessibility of colour photography changed dramatically, culminating in the widespread uptake of Eastman Kodak's Kodachrome colour reversal technology in the late 1930s. Kodachrome redefined the photographic industry. It was celebrated as the solution to nearly one hundred years of research and development concentrated on finding a way to make affordable and practical colour pictures, and was so successful that by the early 1940s it had usurped the majority of competing colour processes.This research challenges the prevailing notion that the flourishing industry for colour photography before Kodachrome resulted from continuous developments in science. It shows how transformations in capitalism and changing cultural ideas about colour contributed to the conception and delivery of colour photographic products during this period. Although most nascent colour photography enterprises failed, the sheer volume and technological diversity of processes introduced suggests an enormous amount of creative vitality on the part of a wide range of stakeholders. Through consideration of the meaning of colour in contemporary British society, and the economic and social networks that underpinned the industry, this thesis aims to establish a stronger understanding of the competitive and dynamic market for early colour photography between 1890 and 1935.