557
his son, Victor, for the production of continuous tone
photographs, in 1893.
To achieve this, the removal of the unhardened pig-
ment emulsion had to be effected by the use of a solution
of plain water and sawdust, the latter acting as an abra-
sive. The Artigue paper, marketed as Charbon-Velour,
could provide beautiful prints with a matt surface but the
process was far from perfect for commercial use.
Théodore-Henri Fresson (1865–1951) was an
agronomist by profession and a man of many talents.
Throughout his life he worked on agronomy, electron-
ics, photography, military technology and other tech-
nologically advanced processes. Around 1893, he saw
the carbon paper Artigue Charbon-Velour advertised in a
photography store. That paper was the fi rst commercial
attempt at producing a carbon paper that did not require
transfer prior to the development in order to maintain
a perfect gradation of the image. The Charbon-Velour,
however, was not entirely satisfactory. No two batches
were alike, due mainly to the large number of uncontrol-
lable factors in the manufacturing of the paper.
Fresson became interested in the problem and
after several years of research began the manufac-
ture and sale of his Charbon-Satin around 1899. The
paper was available in 20 colors on various types of
textured bases. Absolute secrecy was maintained as
to the details of the process which was used strictly
by members of the family from one generation to the
next. Exceptions in recent years have been the late José
Ortiz Echagüe and this writer. No patents were taken
for further secrecy.
Fresson paper was imported and sold in America by
Edward Alenius, between 1927 and 1939. After the War,
the Fresson family concentrated its efforts on printing
for other photographers, instead of selling the paper for
outside use, although it has been made available from
time to time.
The best known exponent of the Fresson process was
the late José Ortiz Echagüe (b. 21 Aug. 1886–d. 7 Sept.
1980), whose fabulous work can be seen in the collec-
tions of major museums, including that of the Royal
Photographic Society of Great Britain, now located at
the National Museum of Photography, Film & Televi-
sion, in Bradford and the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York city. There are about 1,000 of his prints
in North America, 3,000 world-wide. He is considered
the most important Spanish photographer of the 20th
century. After his death, his family donated his photo-
graphic negatives and prints to the University of Navarra
in northern Spain.
Ortiz Echagüe bought the Fresson formulas and
equipment necessary to manufacture the paper from a
relative of the Fresson family, in 1966.
The transaction was carried out secretly to avoid the
wrath of the rest of the family. After lengthy and tumul-
tuous negotiations, Luis Nadeau in Canada acquired the
process through him in 1979, shortly before his death.
C. Puyo and Robert Demachy, in France, and Léonard
Misonne, in Belgium, were some of the early pictori-
alists who used the Fresson process. More recently,
Frank Horvat, Bernard Plossu, Lucien Clergue, Sheila
Metzner, Sarah Moon and Tourdjman, have had some of
their work printed by the Fresson family. Most modern
work is printed by the four-color version (quadrichro-
mie-Fresson), introduced by Pierre Fresson in 1951.
The color variant of this process has never been used
outside France.
The highly coveted Fresson process has attracted
considerable attention, as it can provide beautiful and
light-fast prints, and is the last, early proprietary pho-
tographic process of importance still jealously guarded
by a handful of people, namely the descendants of the
inventor, in France, and this author, in Canada. It is
currently the only true photographic process commer-
cially available that can produce a permanent color print
without a photomechanical screen.
Luis Nadeau
See also: Carbon Print, Collotype, Demachy, (Léon)
Robert, Fresson and family, Théodore-Henri, Gum
Print, Misonne, Leonard, Poitevin, Alphonse Louis,
Pouncy, John; and Swan, Sir Joseph Wilson.Further Reading
Alenius, Edward, “The Fresson Process,” The Theory and Prac-
tice of Photography, Special Printing Processes: New York
Institute of Photography, n.d., 21–26.
Champion, Tom, The Fresson Process, no. 22 of History of
Photography Monograph Series. School of Art at Ariz. State
Univ. 1986.
Derbyshire, Philip, “José Ortiz Echagüe: photography against
modernity.” Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, vol. 2, no.
2, Sept. 1, 2001, 155–167.
Mouret, Charles, “The Fresson Direct Carbon Printing Process,”
American Annual of Photography, 1929, 179-182.
Nadeau, Luis, History and Practice of Carbon Processes, Fred-
ericton: Atelier Luis Nadeau, 1982.
Nadeau, Luis, Gum Dichromate and Other Direct Carbon Pro-
cesses, from Artigue to Zimmerman. Fredericton: Atelier
Luis Nadeau, 1987.
Nadeau, Luis, “The Fresson Process,” The Photographic Jour-
nal, vol. 120, no. 7, July 1980, 299; id., vol. 121, no. 7, July
1981, 304–309.
Ortiz Echagüe, José, Photographies, Paris: Ed. du Chêne, 1979;
Spanish edition: Madrid: Editorial Incafo, 1978; German
edition: Munich: Schirmer/ Mosel, 1979; English edition:
London: Gordon- Fraser, 1979.FRIESE-GREENE, WILLIAM (1855–1921)
English photographer
Born William Edward Green, 7 September 1855 in
Bristol, England. Father James Green, metal craftsman.