Traces of decay

Vinegar syndrome is the enemy of every photo archive. To mitigate its effects, we are screening F.C. Gundlach’s slides and transferring them into archival-safe sleeves. For our object of the month, however, any rescue comes too late. Instead, the slide impressively demonstrates the peculiar beauty that can lie in photographic decomposition processes.

Shown is a fashion photograph that F.C. Gundlach took in his studio for an autumn/winter collection. The model is wearing a blue wool coat, elegant black leather gloves, and an opulent fur hat. Given the silk scarf with its characteristic graphic pattern, the image can be dated to the 1960s. The only thing missing to complete the wintry scene is an alpine background.

And this is precisely what vinegar syndrome seems to have created retrospectively. Starting from the right edge of the image, the decomposition process has gripped the film base and transformed it into crystalline, purple, and bluish structures. The background now looks almost like a surreal panorama of a crumbling mountain massif.