John Reuter’s Multi-Panel Polaroid Polacolor Transfers

The Polaroid Polacolor Image Transfer process was extremely popular among photographers and artists in the 1990s and 2000s.  Not many have seen Image Transfers as large as 5×6 feet.  John Reuter began making 20×24 Image Transfers in the early 1980s and expanded the format in 1987 with his first 9 panel transfers mounted on canvas spanning 62 by 72 inches.  Based on collage images in the pre-Photoshop era, these composites were transferred to watercolor paper and reworked with dry pigment, pastel and graphite.  The resulting pieces resembled fresco panels in their scale and surface qualities.   After creating several very large pieces he settled on the 4 panel format of 42×52 inches.  With Polacolor film still offered by the 20×24 Studio these type of multi-panel pieces are still possible to create.