Young Girl 

Robert Demachy made this image using the gum bichromate process, a photographic printing technique favored by pictorialist photographers, that gives the image a soft, painterly quality. Demachy and other artists manipulated the developing process to such an extent that the final print often resembled charcoal drawings or other monochrome works on paper. This process involved coating paper with a mixture of gum arabic, pigment, and a light-sensitive chemical. After exposure to light through a negative, the print was developed in water. The gum bichromate process gave the photographer a high degree of control over the final image, allowing for extensive manipulation of contrast, tone, and texture. Demachy's choice of a labor-intensive printing technique emphasizes the hand of the artist, and makes a statement about photography’s status as art.