Does anyone know anything about Dassonville Charcoal Black?

[athanasius80]

I was just reading something online and it mentioned in passing that William Dassonville was skilled at chemistry and was inspired to make his own paper (Charcoal Black) after WWI curtailed his platinum supply. Can anyone verify this or tell me anything about the paper? Just curious,
Thanks!
Chris

 

[Petzi]

I have definitely heard about that paper. I think I read about it in one of Ansel Adams' books, most probably "The Print" ...

 

[Jim Noel]

When available this was my paper of choice.
It was coated on very heavy paper base and available in a variety of surfaces. SInce it was first produced while pictorialism was popular these varied surfaces added to its number of users.
It was said to have the deepest blacks of any paper available. This was likely true at the time prior to whiteners and other additives which have been common for many years now. The blacks were not quite as deep as some modern paper/developer combinations produce. The paper did jave a beautiful scale.
As a sidelight, the paper was packed with pre-cut test strips, one for each piece of paper in the package.
The emulsion was apparently much thicker then other papers of the day and many felt this was th secret to the scale. There were no patents so the secrets died with Dassonville.

I wish I still had some.

Jim

 

[nworth]

Dassonville D-1 charcoal black paper developer

Water 500 ml
Metol 3 g
Sodium sulfite (anh) 43 g
Hydroquinone 11 g
Sodium carbonate (mono) 35 g
Potassium bromide 2 g
WTM 1 l

Dilute 1:1 for use. Develop 2 minutes.

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Similar to Ilford Developer ID-20.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Petzi]

When available this was my paper of choice.

How old are you?

 

[faberryman]

I know this is an old thread, but I just saw the big AA exhibit in San Francisco and there were a couple of small prints from 1927 he printed on Dassonville Carbon Black paper. The blacks were medium to dark grey and the whites were light, light grey. Just a few years later, his prints took on his signature black blacks and white whites. I am not sure what happened in the intervening few years which could explain the remarkable difference in print quality. New papers? New developers? Improved technique? All of the above?

 

[Tom Taylor]

I know this is an old thread, but I just saw the big AA exhibit in San Francisco and there were a couple of small prints from 1927 he printed on Dassonville Carbon Black paper.

Were those the ones that were printed on a textured paper?

 

[faberryman]

Were those the ones that were printed on a textured paper?

I don't recall them being textured. They definitely had a matte finish.

 

[Tom Taylor]

There were 1 or 2 that were printed on a black matte paper that were textured - similar to art 300 but the texture ran horizontal.

 

[faberryman]

It has been 6-8 years since I printed on Art 300. I wasn't crazy about it and passed the box on to a fellow Photrio member. As I recall, the Art 300 had a fine texture so it could be similar to Dassonville Carbon Black. I'll defer to you on the question of texture. I was more interested in the tonal range of those prints in comparison to his prints shortly thereafter.

 

[Tom Taylor]

The texture was very noticeable on 1 and a little less noticeable on the 2d. nworth gives the formula for Dassonville D-1 Charcoal Black Paper Developer in the post above and the Cookbook classifies it as a "neutral-tone developer." I wonder what effect it would have on modern papers?

Another image that caught my eye was the maroon tinted Clearing Winter Storm, 1937, which I found visually impressive but was surprised that selenium was responsible for the maroon tone.

 

[faberryman]

The texture was very noticeable on 1 and a little less noticeable on the 2d. nworth gives the formula for Dassonville D-1 Charcoal Black Paper Developer in the post above and the Cookbook classifies it as a "neutral-tone developer." I wonder what effect it would have on modern papers?

The formula given for Dassonville D-1 closely resembles the formula for D-72, with the exception that D-72 contains a little more than twice the sodium carbonate.

Another image that caught my eye was the maroon tinted Clearing Winter Storm, 1937, which I found visually impressive but was surprised that selenium was responsible for the maroon tone.

I noticed that as well.

 

[reddesert]

I know this is an old thread, but I just saw the big AA exhibit in San Francisco and there were a couple of small prints from 1927 he printed on Dassonville Carbon Black paper. The blacks were medium to dark grey and the whites were light, light grey. Just a few years later, his prints took on his signature black blacks and white whites. I am not sure what happened in the intervening few years which could explain the remarkable difference in print quality. New papers? New developers? Improved technique? All of the above?

I think this was a conscious evolution in style. I'm not near any books of/about Adams at the moment, but IIRC his early style is more like what we now call pictorialist and only after some time does he develop the "mature style" now most associated with him. Or, one might say that what happened was not that he changed papers or developers, but that he met Edward Weston. For an article about a relevant exhibition, see https://www.ohiomagazine.com/arts/article/ansel-adams-a-photographer-s-evolution-in-cincinnati

To gain acceptance as an artist, Adams infused his early work with romantic touches reminiscent of the popular charcoal drawings of the day, a technique that’s evident in 1925’s “El Capitan, Yosemite Valley.”

“Unlike Adams’ later photographs, this one is more traditional in its composition,” Muente says. “It has a soft focus with blurred lines and edges. The reflection of the trees in the river makes it look like a 19th-century landscape painting.”

By 1932, Adams had become friends with Edward Weston, a pioneer in black-and-white photography characterized by sharp focus and rich detail, and the duo, along with five other photographers, founded Group f/64.

 

[faberryman]

I think this was a conscious evolution in style. I'm not near any books of/about Adams at the moment, but IIRC his early style is more like what we now call pictorialist and only after some time does he develop the "mature style" now most associated with him. Or, one might say that what happened was not that he changed papers or developers, but that he met Edward Weston. For an article about a relevant exhibition, see https://www.ohiomagazine.com/arts/article/ansel-adams-a-photographer-s-evolution-in-cincinnati

On the same wall as the small 1927 Dassonville Carbon Black print was a 1927 print of Monolith, the Face of Half Dome (the Half Dome without the moon) in AA's signature style. Perhaps he was in transition. Perhaps he printed it later (1930?). 1927 was also the year he published his first portfolio, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras. They were printed on a different paper, but more closely resembled the Dassonville Carbon Black print than the Half Dome print. I guess I will be at the library tomorrow.