Autochrome: The fascination of colour

A look back at the pioneering days of colour photography. Hans-Frank Galerie new.

Hans Frank (1908-1987) is regarded as a key figure in the history of the Upper Austrian Provincial Museum's photography collection, which is largely due to his passion for collecting and his expertise. With the founding of the first Austrian photography museum in Bad Ischl, he realised his visionary ideas by continuously enriching an exquisite collection, which today forms the cornerstone of Upper Austria's historical photography collection. The inauguration of the Hans Frank Gallery on the ground floor of the Francisco Carolinum not only pays due respect to Hans Frank, but also provides Upper Austria's photographic collection with a striking stage to present itself to the public in the future.

The opening exhibition is dedicated to the internationally outstanding collection of autochromes and early forms of transparent colour light images. The brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière marked a significant milestone in 1907 with the market launch of autochromes, a technically advanced method based on additive colour mixing and an emulsion of tiny, coloured potato starch grains on glass plates, and paved the way from monochrome to colour photography. The selection of around 50 objects for this exhibition is generated from the photographic collection of the province of Upper Austria, which comprises around 1,000 early transmitted light colour images. These include unique major works by the Lumière brothers and other pioneers of colour photography.

In collaboration with the Linz-based architecture firm MARCH GUT, an innovative viewing system has been created that allows visitors to view these extraordinary and at the same time highly sensitive image treasures in all their authentic brilliance.