OstLicht Prisma – The New Monthly Newsletter. Just as a prism refracts light into its colors, we illuminate photography in all its facets – from historical developments and artistic movements to contemporary trends.
The term vintage print refers to an early photographic print: a positive that was developed from the original negative close to the time of the photograph, ideally by the photographer himself or herself, sometimes also by an authorised printer. The term is primarily used to describe prints from the era of analogue, chemically fixed photography in the 20th century, whereby these are predominantly silver gelatine prints on baryta paper. A distinction is made between vintage prints and later prints of a photograph, such as exhibition and edition prints.
As the process of positive development involves aesthetic decisions, such as influencing the image detail, the exposure or the choice of special photographic paper, vintage prints are considered authentic works that come closest to the authorial intentions. However, when assessing prints, other contexts must also be taken into account in addition to the time of origin: In photojournalism, for example, the earliest prints, often not signed but stamped by the agencies, were produced as artwork for print media. They are often sought-after collector's items, but are sometimes valued lower than later, larger, signed formats produced for exhibitions or editions.
The chronological assessment of prints requires many years of experience: first of all, an understanding of material-historical conditions, such as the nature and availability of photographic papers in different decades; in addition, knowledge of as many prints as possible from the respective oeuvre as well as individual practices - only this allows the characteristics of the image object, handwritten notes or stamps to be assessed. It is essential to be able to compare different prints precisely. For a number of photographic items, OstLicht has both an inventory and the specialist expertise to be able to make assessments in this regard.
