International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

June, 1934 The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Thirty-one THE LARGEST PHOTO MURAL EVER MADE The largest photo mural ever made, in effect, a photograph, nearly 600 feet long and twenty feet high will be installed in the Ford buliding at A Century of Progress. It will almost encircle the great central rotunda of the building. The mural was conceived by Walter Dorwin Teague, leading industrial designer who is directing interior work on the Ford building in cooperation with Albert Kahn, architect. It is being executed by Kaufmann & Fabry, official photographers of A Century of Progress. The original photographs are being taken by George Ebling, Mr. Ford's personal photographer. In size, execution and detail, the huge mural far eclipses anything of its' kind yet achieved. It is a study in magnitude. It is in keeping with its subject and reflects the central theme of the fair-progress. This huge mural requires nearly four-fifths of a mile of photographic paper forty inches wide. It consists of ninety-seven panels and will take forty men nearly a month to complete it. More than fourteen tons of steel are being welded in a Chicago factory to form the framework backing for the panels. Upon this steel work, 12,000 square feet of Masonite will be attached. This will require 11,000 screws and nearly twenty-five gallons of a special cement. Upon the flat foundation so formed, 12,000 square feet of special canvas will be applied and the photograph itself mounted on the canvas. Approximately 200 gallons of paste will be used in the ILLUSTRATED BELOW i Sound Reduction Printer cal Trick Printer tl Developing Machine THIS IS THE NEW jd&ni DEBRIE SUPER PARVO result of years of precision craftmanship • 10OO Fool Ins.de Ma, • Direct Focusing on ] Ground Glass • Anti-Buckling Devi< Other Debrie Precision Equipment You Should Know About: • Sound Recording Camera • The Famous PARVO "L" Camera • Color Camera • Micro Camera • G. V. Ultra Speed Camera • Animation Stand • Perforating Machines • 35mm Printers . . . Sound and Picture . . . superimposes titles without title negative • 16mm Reduction and Contact Printer for picture and sound • Production Developing Machines . . . capacity up to 14,000 feet per hour • Splicers • Polishing Machines • Re winders • Editing Machines • Portable Sound Projectors and THE QUINTUPLE PRINTER . . . which makes five prints, picture and sound, simultaneously bom one negative with output of 450 feet per minute. ANDRE DEBRIE. INC., 115 West 45th Street, New York City Its only equal is another Debrie! mounting. Each panel complete, including the framework, foundation and the photograph, will weigh over 400 pounds. The entire mural will be made from a comparatively few photographs which will be selected from the hundreds of eight by ten-inch original views now being made. A special apparatus has been constructed in the Kaufmann & Fabry plant to handle the enlarging and printing of the mural. In the special enlarging machine built just to handle the mural sections, there are 7,000 watts of brilliant light. When the panels are completed, they will be assembled unit by unit, to form seventeen settings or scenes in the photographic story, all tied together to create a coherent effect. Over half a mile of chrome alloy aluminum molding, one inch wide, will be used as a border for the mural. The designers have seen fit to allow the great picture to tell its own story without the aid of an elaborate outer frame. Special illumination is being developed by electrical engineers adequately to show the gigantic mural to the millions of visitors who will throng the Ford building. Decision to call upon photography in this way to add a further impressive touch to the magnificent interior, followed previous installations of the kind, notably, the recent one in Rockefeller center although on a much smaller scale. The development of processes which eliminate the effect of "grain" in the finished product and the comparative simplicity with which an elaborate story such as that of the Ford Motor company can be told accurately and convincingly by the camera, were other factors favoring the mural, it was announced. Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.