photo-lettering machine
date: label: date made
content: ca. 1942
name: label: graphic artist
content: Weber, Martin J.
notes: label: Description
content: The Weber Photolettering Machine, designed by and patented by Martin J. Weber in 1942, was used in the Weber Printing Process for graphic design and advertisements requiring a unique photolettering or special three-dimensional effect. The machine itself includes a metal frame holding an adjustable glass plate. A light fixture and camera lens or prism were placed below the frame, holding film groupings, to achieve a specific lighting effect while exposing the film that would later be used to print the final result.
label: Description
content: The Weber Printing Process: A printing process invented and developed by Martin J. Weber (1905-2007), is often characterized by the three-dimensional "posterization" effect. His printing processes also included many other techniques, including mezzotinting, circle-line renderings, and fine line renderings, which he specially marketed for retail advertising, which was well suited to precise detailed depiction. Though his other techniques were not as popular, his posterization technique was used extensively, both by his studio, Martin J. Weber Studio, and by independent artists, especially psychedelic artists of the 1960s and 1970s. The technique was easily achieved and inexpensive; it allowed the printer to make a color separation of an image and print each layer successively off-set from the layer before it, thus creating a three-dimensional and even photo-realistic effect.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
topic: label: Subject
content: Technology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Graphic Arts
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content: Communications
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content: Art
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2011.0071.001
label: accession number
content: 2011.0071
label: catalog number
content: 2011.0071.001
objectType: label: Object Name
content: machine, photo lettering
label: Object Type
content: Photomechanical Lithographic Processes
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 1/2 in x 30 in x 23 in; 34.29 cm x 76.2 cm x 58.42 cm