ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Eastman Kodak Co. is turning over its archive of panoramic Colorama images to a hometown photography museum in upstate New York where its founder lived.
George Eastman House said last week that the collection includes original negatives and prints of all 565 gigantic Coloramas displayed in New York’s Grand Central Terminal from 1950 to 1990.
Those backlit transparencies, promoted by Kodak as the “world’s largest photographs,” measured 60 feet long by 18 feet high. New images were installed every three weeks, depicting landscapes, sports and family events.
The images “reflected and reinforced American values and aspirations while encouraging picture-taking as an essential aspect of leisure, travel and family,” said Alison Nordstrom, curator of photographs at Eastman House. “The Coloramas taught us not only what to photograph, but how to see the world as though it were a photograph,” she said.
Eastman House is a landmark colonial-revival mansion in Rochester that was home to film and photo pioneer George Eastman, Kodak’s founder.
Turned into a film and photography museum in 1947, it will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Kodak Colorama with a four-month exhibition that opens Saturday. The exhibition featuring three dozen Coloramas will then embark on an international tour. The lineup of venues has not been decided.
Steve Kelly, a professional photographer for Kodak who created several Coloramas, called them “Kodak moments of the highest order.”
