May 3, 2012
Ned Scott’s favorite method of printing his negatives was to use platinum paper from the Platinotype Company in London. He felt that platinum paper was the truest representation of his negatives, and this was especially evident in the black tones in the images. Obtaining this paper was difficult as well as expensive. There was no representative or photo supply company in Los Angeles which carried the paper in stock. It was necessary to buy straight from the factory in London. It was the mid-thirties, and purchasing such a specialty item from London took time to organize. Purchase orders had to be executed in writing, and posting these in letter form was slow even with newly established overseas air mail routes. Paying customs fees or “duty” was 30% of the purchase price, and Ned Scott sought to avoid that whenever he could. Obstacles abounded for avid users of platinum paper, a factor which we cannot appreciate today. But Ned Scott persisted in his relentless quest for this excellent paper, and he purchased as much as he could prior to the closing of the Platinotype Company in June of 1937.
Connie McCabe, Head of Photograph Conservation at the National Museum of Art in Washington, D.C., has recently shared many of the particulars of platinum paper, particularly the warm japine black form. The Archive has supplied her with correspondence and documents from Ned Scott’s platinotype file. She will be giving a talk on this subject at the May 11 meeting of the American Institute of Conservation in Albuquerque.
Printing platinum paper always involved the use of sunlight as the light source. These prints were not made in a darkroom.
Ned Scott laying out his Platinum Print holders for developing in the sun, 1940-41