Looking forward : $b a dream of the United States of the Americas in 1999Bird, Arthur
Science
Looking forward : $b a dream of the United States of the Americas in 1999
Bird, Arthur
Twentieth century -- Forecasts; United States -- Civilization
Through the specially constructed cameras of Prof. Deweyton, life
size pictures [Glorious Sunset Views.] were secured, large landscape
scenes, magnificent marine views, were reproduced with the exact
colors of nature. Superb sunset views, in a matchless wealth of color,
a revelry of gold and crimson, were transferred to canvas by natural
process in 1920. This process became the great art triumph of the
twentieth century. No human hand had ever attempted with any hope
of success to reproduce on canvas the bewitching and mystic effects
of the gloaming. Nature with her master hand, dared to reproduce, on
canvas, this most difficult of all artistic studies. Michael Angelo,
the supreme chief of all living or dead artists, never attempted to
reproduce on canvas Vesuvius in active eruption. No human power could
do the faintest justice to such a scene and no master of the art ever
cared to risk his reputation in the attempt. But in color-photographs
Nature reproduced the exact colors of the seething flames as they
belched forth from the quivering crater. In 1930 a magnificent picture
of Vesuvius, Ætna or Stramboli in active eruption could be purchased
for the pitiable sum of $50. So perfectly natural were the volcanic
flames that the effect was startling. The lava [Could Almost Smell
the Sulphur.] running down the mountain side apparently threatened
to set fire to the very walls of the room. A picture of this kind,
a feeble representation painted by some eminent artist, would cost
over $10,000.
The process of color-photography proved invaluable in reproducing
human features and expression. Nothing could exceed the perfection the
art attained in 1935. Photographic studios were crowded with work. No
skill of man had ever transferred to canvas the maiden's blush, that
emblem of purity, a shade Divine which mantles the brow of innocence
only. The cameras of 1935 proved equal to that delicate task. The maid
caught blushing in color photography blushed on, alas, forever. In
detecting criminals, the new art proved invaluable. The Rogues'
Gallery was soon filled with studies in life and deviltry, so natural
that one's first impulse was to reach out for a pair of handcuffs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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