Crayon Portrait

About

A crayon portrait - also called a “crayon enlargement” - is more a photographic practice than a real process. A monochrome print is been retouched with pencil or coloured. A crayon portrait is not a photograph that has been retouched to hide flaws in the shot, nor is it a photograph that has been coloured to transform a black-and-white photograph into a colour image; it is a type of photography that uses drawing techniques to enhance the photographic portrait.

Portrait de Charles Hersovici pendant sa Bar-Mitsvah, anonyme, 50 x 39,5 cm , vers 1925-1935, portrait-crayon, musée Carnavalet.

Historical period of production and use

This type of photograph is an enlargement from a smaller negative and appears after the invention of the first solar enlarging cameras in the 1850s. Photographic prints for crayon portraits were made from low-contrast negatives with good detail. The negative’s flaws became more visible when enlarged, but some imperfections could be corrected before printing. Specific techniques were used to soften the overall effect, including printing through a diffusing cloth or applying a sheet of frosted glass associated with a layer of glycerin to the negative. The final print had to be somewhat blurry to be coloured properly. Printing-out processes - salted paper or albumen - were generally used in the early years. However, the greater sensitivity developing-out processes was more adapted to the dim light of the enlarger, and the thicker papers they used held up better during the process of retouching.

Fabrication

The negative used for printing should have low contrast and good definition. As any flaws in the negative are accentuated by enlargement, they can be corrected beforehand. Specific techniques are used to soften the overall image, such as ‘sandwiching’ the negative between a frosted glass plate and a layer of glycerin, or inserting a diffusing fabric.

Crayon portraits were typically rectangular or oval, measuring between 40 x 50 cm and 50 x 60 cm. The paper had to be slightly coarse for colour to adhere. Highlights and large expanses of similar tones were reworked using pencils, crayons, pastels, watercolours or gouache paint, applied using stumps, fingers, brushes or, starting in the 1900s, with an airbrush. Eyes, hair and clothing were especially worked up, sometimes to a degree that the underlying photograph was hardly visible. The final image was mounted on rigid cardboard, or sometimes wood or canvas, and was usually framed.

Identification

The surface of a crayon portrait visually combines graphic and photographic techniques, with the surface of the photograph being partially or completely covered with highlights, which correct the defects in contrast and definition present in the original enlargement.

Deterioration

The state of preservation of crayon portrait depends on the quality of the support materials – often low-quality, industrial-grade paper and card – as well as on the conditions of storage and the care given to them, which are often inadequate (curling, excessive exposure to light, uncontrolled humidity, biological infestation, etc.).

Credits

Visual Glossary of Photographic Processes © ARCP / Mairie de Paris, 2023

Glossary

Albumen Print

Aristotype

Autochrome

Carbon Print

Chromogenic Prints

Collodion Glass Plate Negative

Portrait Crayon

Cyanotype