The color slide

OBJECT OF THE MONTH DECEMBER 2024

We recently discovered a whole box full of slides in the archive, from which we selected this month's featured object: a 35mm color slide taken by F.C. Gundlach during his trip to Hong Kong in February 1961. This discovery prompts us to reflect on why so few color prints have survived from the work of many commissioned photographers.

On January 23, 1961, a Lufthansa Boeing 707 took off from Frankfurt for the long journey to Hong Kong. On board was F.C. Gundlach, who, with his Leica in hand luggage, documented the inaugural flight. In addition to his assignment, he also photographed a series of reports for the magazine "Film und Frau" (Film and Woman) to give German readers an impression of the Far Eastern metropolis. The impressive photographs were published later that year, along with an article by editor Friedrich C. Piepenburg entitled "Her Majesty's Crown Colony ," which remarkably addresses the exoticizing perceptions of the German public.

"Hong Kong is not what we imagine it to be. There isn't a hired assassin on every street corner, nor a dainty prostitute waving from every doorway, nor are there pirate junks bobbing in the harbor, nor are there ruined lives thronging noisy bars. Nor are there silvery bells jingling in secluded gardens surrounded by ornate houses with delicate carvings under heavy, curved roofs of glazed tiles. One doesn't stroll through flowery parks full of goldfish ponds. Hong Kong is neither the China of Pearl S. Buck nor the shady port of so many sensationalist adventure films. It is also not what in the world of politics is called 'the keyhole in the bamboo curtain.' It is not the only relay station to the Western world for Red China. Hong Kong is a wonderful, magical absurdity, inexplicable, life itself."

But back to our subject: The image on the slide is neither found in the publication " Film und Frau" nor is there a corresponding color print in our archive. However, a similar image exists, taken at the same location and available as a black-and-white print. The reason for this is as follows: For his reportage, Gundlach carried at least two cameras to photograph in both color and black and white. The advantage of color slides—being able to see the image as a positive without the need for reversal—proves to be a disadvantage for the preservation of the images: While contact sheets and prints for the photo editors were produced from the black-and-white negatives, the slides were not printed, since the positive could be viewed directly—without any printing. The fact that predominantly black-and-white prints have survived, therefore, does not allow for any conclusions to be drawn about the aesthetic value of the color photographs, but is rather due to the technical processes used and the workflows in the editorial offices.