Tag: dye transfer

In Texas Memoriam

Posted on Posted in art biz, dye transfer, overnight notesTagged ,

James Bones Jr. November 1, 1943 — November 17, 2023 [80] . Fort Davis

News is never new in Texas. Knowledge travels slower than gossip, often missing the train. He lived in the ‘tiny texas triangle’ — a southwest artist.
The world, the urban, the built. Jim bones survived in the tiny triangle, but didn’t flourish . Small grants, wives, persistence, kept him alive. He is noticed by the dye transfer, Porter groupies on internet darkroom forums. Flutters of worship words of those who didn’t make it as far as he did. They covet the craft badge, envy the possible life of an artist. Sadly, they failed all three legs of the triangle.

the Tiny Texas Triangle of west texas. Small, contained worlds are the hallmark of rural america. Art in small places popup around small colleges.

He was one of Eliot Porter‘s printers. ” I printed for Eliot Porter in the late 1970s and occasionally he would have me make a black and white print by using the magenta matrix from a full color image to sequentially apply all three dyes to the same piece of paper.  They were beautiful and had a depth unavailable with silver emulsions. Sincerely, Jim Bones (2003).”

Bones [JB[ wanted to make photographs like Porter’s. To achieve this, he visited and correspondent with Mr. Porter, seeking advice on most topics of making photographs and a living with photography. In 1967, Porter[1901-1990] was 66, while JB was 24.

Scattered posts:

JB printed, 1982, a Russell Lee negative made in 1948. EX: https://www.cartermuseum.org/collection/trucks-loaded-grapefruit-lined-worlds-largest-citrus-juice-canning-plant-weslaco-texas

Film proposal: A Natural Revelation. Film about Eliot Porter and Loren Eiseley.

NB: Oooh is that a dye transfer, for more

How short the memory of online groups… is it because they were never close?

search on the dye transfer group list. No notice of Jim’s death. Not even a grateful student noticed Jim Bones had died. In ’20 a memory of; as of ’25 his passing hasn’t been noticed.

His passing was recently spread by a small IM group by a person in Japan planning a visit. That prompted my checking.

…. so it goes…

;; wives : Ann Matlock ,Ellen Calonkey. Mary Bones

Jim Bones “Finding The Light” Event

Mary Bones, Director of the Museum of the Big Bend, and Ann Matlock are in conversation with Becky Duval Reese, former Director of the El Paso Museum of Art and co-curator of this exhibition. From our special event on March 3rd, 2024.

https://youtu.be/b4H3Pljkar4?si=yUzL923tjTVoLwDL

Jim Bones and Dye Transfer Printing

2016 June 5—16:” “Dye Transfer Printing Process” with Dennis Thompson and Jim Bones. Fees: $350 for one week, with additional $75 lab fee, $525 for two weeks. Alpine.

How much success did he have? The price of living in the shadow of others. His work that is archived was donated.
For example, this: Start Time: 04-01-2017 Time Left: Bidding Closed Value: $495.00 — Even with a grand pitch:
Dye transfer prints are simply without peer. They have a richness, depth, and fidelity unmatched by any other kind of photographic print. They can show extraordinary subtlety of tone and hue, combined with a brightness range of 500:1 from blackest black to whitest white. Nothing else comes close to the magnificence of a dye transfer print.

They all die: David Leigh Rathbun died on April 9, 2020. Jorge Fick (1932–2004)

Success requires skills in two spaces… craft is the easier component.

Sun Dye Service

Posted on Posted in overnight notesTagged , , ,

From my prior post: “CVI, Color Vision Imaging laboratory, Manhattan, 1981. Guy Stricherz (b. 1948) graduated from western Washington University in 1974. He went to New York city in 1977 to work for Frank Tartaro who was one of a dozen masterful printers. Even at that time the process was falling out of use. It had peaked by 1980. Irene Malli (b. 1964) graduated from Cooper Union; after graduation she worked as a printer before answering an ad for CVI in 1989. CVI was moved to Vashon Island from NYC in 2004. Some of their recent clients: Larry Burrows, Bruce Davidson, Thomas Demand, William Eggleston, Mitch Epstein, Ernst Haas, Hiro, Evelyn Hofer, Graziela Iturbide, Zoe Leonard, Arnold Newman, Irving Penn, Christopher Williams. Irene Malli born 1964, and Guy Stricherz (b. 1948 – d. March 29, 2025 ) . They used Kodak materials, their last for a final portfolio of William Eggleston. Much was made of this, including a widely distributed video. That video was, in a way, an introduction of the Irene to the world. Guy’s way of revealing the person in the shadows of CVI.

Knowing just those items would have paid credit to the grand pitch of Dye as Value. But TOP missed the century. kuhChing and kuhTOP are selling archaeology. crumbled bits, the remains of his past travel shots.

If you are going to pitch the past as value, get some of it correct, please.

saying it’s valuable because it’s a dye transfer diminishes its meaning .. as it means those folks who made dye transfers.

that you don’t know the history even though you’re selling some thing because it is historic that you don’t know the currency means not just that you’re a bad salesman, but that you’re a salesman that doesn’t even care 

is it valuable because of something in the bones, something intrinsic, or something in the brochure .

if it’s valuable because it’s a dye transfer, that’s a little bit like bragging about the framing, the matting; while charging for shipping and handling says discounts galore. A by the bucket sale.

S&H is the poor man’s coupon . like S&M… A diversion perversion

What is it worth? What will you get upon resale?

Factoid from the past: Eliot Porter portfolios sold for $900 with 10 prints. They even had a box, just no shipping and handling. When EPs were sold by Berkey Gallery, Porter got $300 for each print sold.

We have been here before. Going out of business that never ends.