Nitrocellulose Negatives Organised

One of the first steps in working on Zbigniew Dłubak’s negatives was separating nitrocellulose-based materials, among which were the most valuable negatives – about 100 frames of the earliest photographs made by the artist in 1947-1948, an experimental series that was later presented in a solo show at the Young Artists’ and Scientists’ Club in Warsaw and in the 1st Exhibition of Modern Art in Cracow. To begin with, the negatives were already partly degraded. They were immediately digitised, each frame receiving a handmade paper sleeves to separate them from each other and slow down the degradation process. Due to the significance of the material, baryta paper prints were created from the negatives. Attempts to create analogue copies of the negatives proved unsatisfactory.