The Phantasmagoria of the First Hand-Painted Films

How the silent screen burst to life with color

Nautilus
Nautilus
Nov 6 · 7 min read
A black-and-white photo of a blimp flying in the air with a bold splotch of red painted over part of it.
A black-and-white photo of a blimp flying in the air with a bold splotch of red painted over part of it.
‘Dirigeable fantastique,’ 1906. All images courtesy of EYE Filmmuseum

By Joshua Yumibe

Originally published at Nautilus on July 16, 2015.

At the turn of the 20th century, a color revolution was sweeping across Europe and North America. The invention decades earlier of aniline dyes, synthesized from coal tar, had made…

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Nautilus

A magazine on science, culture, and philosophy for the intellectually curious

Nautilus Magazine

A magazine on science, culture, and philosophy for the intellectually curious

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