Robert Frank photo

Question

This iconic photo by Robert Frank is baffling me. There is a yellowish portion diangonally in the lower right area. I assumed it was damaged, but upon consulting with a photo restorer I was told it was developed like this. It is signed by him. Attached is a photo. Did Frank ever expose his photos to appear intentionally discolored like this?

Answer 1

The yellowing is not due to exposure; and it is not something that could be done intentionally (for a specific result).

The yellowing is typically due to errors in the print developing process, either in the wash stage or the fix stage. Basically some chemicals were left behind that should not have been, and they have continued to react over time. Sometimes it happens quite fast, other times it takes years; just depends on the degree of contamination.

With many prints such discoloration will occur over time even if they were properly developed... even with "archival" prints. My guess is this image was not handled/stored well and that has caused this uneven discoloration.

Answer 2

Formerly, photographic images were based on chemical reactions linked to the metal silver. Pictorial film and papers consisted of crystals that are salts of silver. These are imbedded in a binder of purified gelatin. Now called an emulsion, this mixture is then coated on film or paper. Three salts of silver are commonly used. We are talking silver combined with a member of the halogen family of elements. Halogen is Swedish for “salt maker”. Pictorial films and papers consist of silver bromine, silver chlorine, and silver iodide.

When these materials are exposed to light in the camera or photo printer, the bond that holds the crystal together is weakened. A chemical called a developer has the ability to identity crystals that have been exposed to light. The developer then reduces the crystals to metallic silver and a water-soluble halogen. The metallic silver remains embedded in the gelatin. This forms the black & white image. The halogen component is dissolved away by the waters of developer.

During the exposure some but not all crystals receive a sufficient exposure that would render them developable. Thus, the laydown of metallic silver has different densities that are proportional to the degree of exposure (the final image).

Those crystals that did not get enough exposure will remain imbedded in the gelatin. This is a bad thing because when the film or print is viewed in a lighted room, light plays on the material, the crystals eventually self-reduce, and the picture slowly darkens, said to fade away.

The remedy to this fading is to soak the material in a bath that is a solvent for silver crystals but not a solvent for metallic silver. This chemical called a “fixer” does this trick.

After the fix bath, the material must be washed. This is a bath in running water or a chemical cleanser. Should any residual chemical of the process remain, the picture tends to stain and otherwise discolor. A common defect seen in paper prints is yellow staining due to improper fixing or washing.

However many image enhancing schemes were commonly applied. We are talking about toning the finished print various colors for effect. Most often the tones applied were uniform, however, sometimes spot toning was applied for effect.

Likely this print was improperly fixed or washed and thus has stain in the margins.