Making and Printing 19th Century Photographic Paper

Mark Osterman

Mark Osterman is the Photographic Process Historian for the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, where he teaches workshops in early photographic processes from Niepce heliographs to gelatin emulsions. Osterman began his research in historic photographic processes while attending the Kansas City Art Institute in the 1970s. He co-published and edited The Collodion Journal from 1995-2002 and was writer and editor of the pre-1900 section of the New Focal Encyclopedia of Photography. For ten years Osterman taught process identification for the Advanced Residency Program in Photograph Conservation at Eastman Museum and his writings have become important references for the international conservation community. While Osterman is widely recognized as the foremost expert in the evolution of photography he is best known for his research in the collodion variants. Through his research, writings, exhibitions and teaching, he has been an important influence in the current revival of collodion in fine art photography. Osterman's images and writing are featured in Photography's Antiquarian Avant-Garde, The New Wave in Old Process Photography by Lyle Rexer, Coming into Focus by John Barnier, The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes by Christopher James (both editions), Le Vocabulaire Technique de la Photographie by Anne Cartier-Bresson (2008), and the third edition of Photographic Possibilities, by Robert Hirsch (2008). His work is included in numerous private and museum collections including Nihon University, Tokyo; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; Museum of Fine Art, Houston; Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland; George Eastman Museum; Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas; The Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke; and James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA. Osterman is represented by Howard Greenberg Gallery, NYC, Photo Gallery International in Tokyo, Japan and Tilt Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ. For more information go to: http://www.collodion.org.