PHOTOGRAPHY'S FIRST ENLARGEMENTS

THE CRAYON PORTRAIT

Woodward's Solar Camera 1857 (Click image for more info.)

Prior to the mid 1860’s the size of your photograph was pretty much determined by the size of the camera. Copies were limited by the number of lenses on that camera or ‘contact’ printing them. Contact printing is so-named because the negative and photo paper are placed in direct contact with each other and exposed to a light source. Then you wait for the image to appear on the photo paper. And wait. And wait.

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Then came along the photo printing system of enlarging a negative onto a sheet of photo paper and developing that sheet in a darkened room with chemicals that greatly sped up the process of print making. We call them darkrooms. Replete with an enlarger and trays (and often, clothespins).
But the enlargements were very weak in detail. They needed a little help. Often, a lot of help!

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Enter the “Crayon Portrait”. It caught on wildly up until the 1910’s, offered by mail-order, through studios and itinerant photographers. Charcoal, pencils, watercolors, oils and pastels were used.

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Greek Sailor prior to Balkan Wars c.1912

This fine Victorian lady went on to have 10 children and lived to 98!

As with any artistic endeavor the results can be quite varied!

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A note about this image. The baby's weird posture is probably due to being held by her mother during the photo session and the "crayon artist" was really bad! It certainly wasn't the photo restorers fault!

The definitive book on Crayon Portraits is Crayon Portraiture: Complete Instructions for Making Crayon Portraits on Crayon Paper and on Platinum, Silver and Bromide Enlargements (1882) by Jerome A. Barhydt

Another interesting article about Crayon Portraits and identifying olde photographs I recommend this brief piece I found by DiAnne Iverglynne.