A collection of very early colour photographs, some of which are more than 100 years old, will be on display at Exbury Gardens for five months, opening this Friday. Louis Lumiére invented and patented the first commercially viable colour photography process - the autochrome - in 1903, and mass production of the autochrome plates began in 1907. The fabulously rich banker Lionel de Rothschild, who was also an enthusiastic and expert amateur photographer, probably received some plates before commercialisation, and started to experiment with them. The above photo of a tiger at London Zoo is believed to have been taken as early as 1906. It is part of a huge collection of autochromes, which will be exhibited at Exbury Gardens. The photos show the Edwardian world, which we tend to think of as a “black-and-white age”, in full colour. The exhibition opens this Friday, and admission is free to all who buy a ticket into the Gardens.

Press Release

Colours of another age at Exbury

A collection of historic photographic plates that signalled the dawn of colour photography will be on display at Exbury Gardens for five months.

The plates, known as autochromes, were taken in the early years of the twentieth century by banker Lionel de Rothschild, who bought the Exbury estate in 1919. Lionel moved to his new Hampshire home with his young family and with them went seven hundred autochromes, each carefully wrapped in newspaper to preserve the freshness of the colours.

Before moving to Exbury, where he planned and planted the world-famous Gardens and developed the Rothschild Collection of rhododendrons and azaleas, Lionel was an enthusiastic and expert amateur photographer, experimenting and working hard to perfect the autochrome process.

These autochromes, by far the largest collection in the country attributed to one photographer, lay forgotten in a dark cupboard in Exbury House until they were discovered by another Lionel de Rothschild, grandson of their creator. They now form an important part of the Rothschild Archive and have been received with acclaim in the photographic world. Despite the time that has passed they have lost none of their colour or freshness.

“It’s hard to explain the quality of the colour and imagine the astonishment when autochromes were first displayed,” said Victor Gray, a former director of the Rothschild Archive and the co-ordinator of the autochrome exhibition.

“They show the Edwardian world in a new light, a soft and subtle colour that makes you feel that’s how the world really is,” he said.

Mr Gray explained that the autochrome process, first demonstrated in England in 1907, was the first colour photographic method to be commercially viable.  And, for the first time, colour photography was within the remit of an amateur – as long as he could afford it.

Lionel experimented with autochromes between 1908-1912, building a collection, taken in Britain, in Europe and North Africa, of family and friends and images of gardens, which were to become the enthusiasm that occupied him more than any other later in his life. His few images of animals and birds at London Zoo are the earliest known colour photographs taken there.

He worked outside – the light was better for the colours - and produced a huge range of photographs encompassing formal and informal composition, but always with an eye to the quality of the colour.
Autochromes eventually had their day. Despite the huge initial enthusiasm when the French Lumière brothers announced their invention, the plates could not be copied or printed and had to be examined through a viewer. Lionel changed his style of photography, as did many amateurs, but had the forethought to ensure his autochromes were carefully wrapped and stored.

Visitors to the Exbury exhibition, The Colours of Another Age, will view a selection of the autochromes in light boxes and see projections of many not on display.

“The plates have been cleaned and conserved and, as soon as they are lit, they release the image of a world remote to us in time and style, yet dressed in the same colours as the world around us today,” said Victor Gray.

The Colours of Another Age, Lionel de Rothschild’s autochromes, at Exbury from May 1 to September 27. Entry is free to all who buy a ticket into the Gardens.
For more information please visit www.exbury.co.uk or telephone 023 8089 1203.

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