Hand Coloured: Photography’s parallel universe

Various artists

Tairāwhiti Museum
Kelvin Rise, 10 Stout Street, Gisborne 

24 August - 24 November 2024

Opening: 23 August, 5:30 pm

This exhibition about the history and range of hand-coloured photography is a selected blend of the Museum’s collection and that of a private collection begun in Gisborne in 1993 and now numbering 220 examples.

It traces the development of this rich and varied tradition from the 1850s until 2012, the colouring an attempt to bring imagery to life before the development of commercial colour film in the middle of the 20th century. Mostly, the subject matter has been either portraiture or landscapes.

The earliest photographs could only be subtly tinted, but in the latter part of the 19th century photographic portraits were often either partially or completely painted over. During the course of the 20th century expertise in colouring reached the condition of fine art across the whole spectrum of portrait and landscape subjects.