Circa 1905 – From the Fading Ads of NYC (History Press, 2011) © Frank H. Jump
In explaining a layered fading ad, I’ve always used the term pentimento, a painterly term that describes evidence of a previous work on a canvas seen through an existing upper layer. Viewing these works under varied wavelengths of light, like ultraviolet, infrared and even X-ray scanning, can aid scientists in deciphering both palimpsests and pentimenti. The use of the word pentimento in “street and photography” has also been cited on the Internet as a term “used in a modern sense to describe the appearance of the sides of buildings with painted advertising.” Often when newer ads are painted over older ads, “the paint wears away to reveal the older layers.” Examples of this can be seen in the work I did in the Netherlands in 1998 while photographing fading ads in Amsterdam¹. – From the Fading Ads of NYC (History Press, 2011) © Frank H. Jump
