Photograms

The History The photogram technique is at least as old as the existence of photosensitive surfaces. The real breakthrough for the photogram constitutes the discovery of x-rays by Conrad Röntgen. In the arts, the photogram was explored rather late, after the first World War. The name “photogram” was introduced and established by László Moholy-Nagy in 1925. With respect to Christian Schad and Man Ray who used the technique before Moholy-Nagy, sometimes the technique is also called “schadography” or “rayograph”.

Basically…. The photogram is a highly differentiated shadow picture fixed directly on a light sensitive surface.

Actually… Almost everybody gets in touch with the photogram for the first time during a check-up with his doctor An x-ray is essentially a photogram. It is a fixed shadow of a three-dimensional object on a light-sensitive material.

You know.. Conceptually there is a controversy as to whether the photogram is merely an experimental camera-less branch of photography, or if it constitutes its own medium.

The one’s who paved the way….

Christian Schad 7. What are the defining qualities of Christian Schad’s work? (What do these images have in common?) The artist's "schadographs" are among the earliest intentionally abstract photographs. Using the cameraless photogram technique—in existence since the discovery of photography but previously unused for artistic purposes—Schad covered the surfaces of light-sensitive paper with various objects and then left them to develop by his windowsill. He preferred worn materials, such as scraps of paper and bits of fabric, often searching for these things on the streets and in garbage cans. Schad frequently extended his assault on artistic tradition by cutting a jagged border around the schadographs, "to free them," as he explained, "from the convention of the square."

Man Ray 8. Man Ray is the most famous photogram artist, and was part of the Dada art movement. What is Dadaism? Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky, August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in France. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal. He produced major works in a variety of media but considered himself a painter above all. He was best known for his photography, and he was a renowned fashion and portrait photographer. Man Ray is also noted for his work with photograms, which he called "rayographs" in reference to himself. Dada or Dadaism was a form of artistic anarchy born out of disgust for the social, political and cultural values of the time. It embraced elements of art, music, poetry, theatre, dance and politics. Dada was not so much a style of art like Cubism or Fauvism; it was more a protest movement with an anti-establishment manifesto.

~Examples of Photograms~ Other artists

Emilio Amero (1901 – 1976) 1932 As a muralist, Emilio Amero (1901-1976) assisted Rivera and Orozco; later he made experimental films and earned most of his reputation as a lithographer. In the early 1930's he made photograms, a cameraless technique thought of as a pre-eminently modern way to make the familiar strange. Amero experimented with the process and produced an unusual range of tones by exposing the paper to light in the darkroom several times -- most photograms are exposed only once -- and changing the light's intensity. His rigorously constructed compositions, mostly of mass-manufactured objects like gears and springs, include cut-out shapes as well as actual objects placed on the emulsion and proclaim their modernism by technique, composition and the use of machine parts and utilitarian products.

Markus Amm - 1999 In his Untitled series, Markus Amm revives the technique of the photogram. Pioneered as an art form by Man Ray and Moholy Nagy (the latter of which coined the term “photogram”), the process utilises rudimentary photograph principles: objects are placed on a photosensitive surface, and briefly exposed to light to create an abstracted “x-ray” image, an inverted shadow outline of suggestive form. Adopting this approach means to literally draw with light, Amm engages with modernist history and contemporary conceptions of space and technology. Presented in small format, Amm’s compositions are compacted micro architectures, his converging luminous geometries give the illusion of space age structures. Amm’s angular patterns are also reminiscent of abstract and cubist paintings. Devoid of colour and mechanically produced, his photos combine the optimism of the avant-garde with an impersonal futuristic aesthetic.

Nino Migliori

Gyorgy Kepes

Artists and images found on: www.photograms.net Look up other photogram artists on this website for inspiration for your own work