52 Weeks of Inspiring Illustrations, Week 30: oil and water don’t mix — The Bromoil Print

speccoll
Wednesday 16 January 2013
"A Stack-Yard", bromoil transfer print, date unknown ca.1920s-30s, by Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949)
“A Stack-Yard”, bromoil transfer print, date unknown ca.1920s-30s, by Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949)

A photo-mechanical process based on the principal of oil and water repelling each other, the bromoil print is, loosely speaking, a type of lithography. To start, a gelatin-silver bromide print (explaining the “Brom” in this process’ name) is printed and enlarged from a smaller negative. This print is chemically treated and bleached so that the image actually disappears, and the gelatin emulsion is chemically hardened in direct proportion to the amount of silver that was in the print. As such, the highlight areas which contained less image forming silver will remain soft and able to absorb water. Where the tonal range on the original print had been darkest, the gelatin hardens more, meaning that when moistened with water it can retain more or less water in different areas in direct correspondence to the tonal range of the image.

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“Sunday”, bromoil transfer print, date unknown ca.1920s-30s, by Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949)
"St George's Edinburgh", bromoil transfer print, date unknown ca.1920s-30s, by Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949)
“St George’s Edinburgh” “West Register House, overlooking Charlotte Square”, bromoil transfer print, date unknown ca.1920s-30s, by Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949)

Once prepared in the above manner and subsequently moistened, the bleached print is subjected to multiple applications of lithographic ink (a greasy oil based ink, and hence the “oil” in the process’ name) which will build up in the more hardened areas of the gelatin based image, whereas the lighter areas which hold more water will repel the ink and remain white. The colour of a final bromoil print is completely dependent on the choice of ink applied by the artist/photographer/printer. Interestingly, there are two ways to complete a bromoil print. Firstly, and most simply, the ink can be left to dry on the bromide print support. Alternatively, a newly inked print can be used as a kind of printing matrix to transfer the image onto another paper support of the printer’s choosing. This is more aptly known as a “bromoil transfer print”. It is examples of this second variant of the process which we hold in our Photographic Collection.

"A moorland cottage", bromoil transfer print, date unknown ca.1920s-30s, by Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949)
“A moorland cottage”, bromoil transfer print, date unknown ca.1920s-30s, by Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949)
"Harbour Houses – Crail", bromoil transfer print, date unknown ca.1920s-30s, by Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949)
“Harbour Houses – Crail”, bromoil transfer print, date unknown ca.1920s-30s, by Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949)

Introduced in England in 1907, the bromoil print was popular among Pictorialists or members of the Photo-Secession and would remain in use until the 1930s. In comparison to other photomechanical processes based on the need to reproduce images on an industrial scale, such as the half-tone, this process was one which alluded to painterly qualities and emphasised the artist’s hand in the production of fine art prints. At a time when questions about the status of photography as an art was in full swing, the stroke of the painters brush through the application of lithographic ink was an attempt to raise the status of photography above that of mere technical execution and the science of photographic chemistry. Soon after though, it was argued that this act was not one which was intrinsically photographic and was actually moving away from the inherent modernist qualities of the medium such as accuracy and clarity of detail as well as reproducibility.

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“Westwards – Machrihanish”, bromoil transfer print, date unknown ca.1920s-30s, by Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949)
"Lest we forget", bromoil transfer print, date unknown ca.1920s-30s, by Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949)
“Lest we forget”, bromoil transfer print, date unknown ca.1920s-30s, by Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949)

The Department of Special Collections holds a fine body of Pictorialist photographic work (88 prints in total) created by the Scottish photographer Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949) who was active from the 1890s to the 1940s. A member of the Edinburgh Photographic Society, Alexander Hill exhibited his work up to 1938 and would lecture on the subject of bromoil printing from 1930 through to 1944. Acquired in 2007 as part of our on-going mission to expand our holdings of Scottish photography, these works are among the finest examples of the bromoil process held by the library’s Department of Special Collections.

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5 thoughts on "52 Weeks of Inspiring Illustrations, Week 30: oil and water don’t mix — The Bromoil Print"

  • Duncan McAra
    Duncan McAra
    Thursday 17 January 2013, 12.17pm

    Dear Sir/Madam The Alexander Wilson Hill photo is not of St George's (which is in Shandwick Place) but is showing West Register House (National Archives of Scotland, overlooking Charlotte Square. Kind Regards Duncan McAra PS: I always enjoy reading the latest post on Echoes from the Vault. One of my client authors is Michael Tobert, author of Pilgrims in the Rough (about St Andrews).

    Reply
    • St Andrews Special Collections
      St Andrews Special Collections
      Thursday 17 January 2013, 12.28pm

      Dear Duncan, Many thanks for spotting this, I'll pass your comment on to your Photographic Team to update their records and I'll change the caption now! -DG

      Reply
    • Ronnie Inglis
      Ronnie Inglis
      Tuesday 6 December 2016, 6.02pm

      I hasten to put the record straight. The Alexander Wilson Hill photograph is indeed of St George's Church in Charlotte Square that later was to become and as it is now, West Register House. The congregation was united with St Andrew's Church in George Street then being renamed St Andrew's and St George' Church. The church referred to above in Shandwick Place is/was called St George's West Church. When this building was recently sold, the congregation from there was united with St Andrew's and St George's, now renamed as St Andrew's and St George's West.

      Reply
  • 52 Weeks of Inspiring Illustrations, Week 30: oil and water don’t mix — The Bromoil Print | Special Collections Librarianship | Scoop.it
    Sunday 20 January 2013, 10.20am

    [...] “A Stack-Yard”, bromoil transfer print, date unknown ca.1920s-30s, by Alexander Wilson Hill (1867-1949) A photo-mechanical process based on the principal of oil and water repelling each other, the bromoil print is, loosely speaking, a type of...  [...]

    Reply
  • 52 Weeks of Inspiring Illustrations, Week 46: A Marriage of Convenience — The Half-Tone Relief Process | Echoes from the Vault
    Wednesday 8 May 2013, 10.21am

    [...] to hold ink which is the exact opposite of relief printing. Planographic printing, such as the bromoil or the collotype, uses the properties of oil and water to repel one another to render its images [...]

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