This is the PHILIPS PM5544 electronic colour pattern. You will probably recognise it, it has been the test card of choice for most colour broadcasters since the late 1960s. Test cards are used to calibrate luminance, geometry and colour mixing on film, TVs etc. (courtesy Alan Pemberton who has a fascination with all things testcard)

The image you see to the right is a broadcast image used by the BBC. Everyone has seen something like this from time to time as the final fallback position for a television station when tapes have broken or some other catastrophy has occured at the television station.

Most test cards however will never be seen because that are on rolls of film. Every film has a test card at the start to allow film laboratories to match color tones in the associated film. So it was that camera men, knowing that these images would never see the public light of day, began innovating with the presentation of the test cards and a lively and competitive practice of using female studio production workers to pose, "pin-up girl" style, developed.

This is entitled "Girl # 4. 12 x 15 in." by an unknown studio cameraman. Julie Buck and Karin Segal, artists and film archivists at Harvard Film Archive, have been collecting these discarded film leaders. The heavily scratched and faded images were then enlarged, restored, and edited. The result is a interesting collection of these images that reflect modern culture of the US at the time of their capture. They are currently on display at Sert Galllery at Harvard University.

The exhibition is running until September 18, 2005 and would make a fascinating visit if you happen to live in that neck of the woods.

(via Art Daily)