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===Prehistory===
===Prehistory===
The phenomenon of the shadow has always aroused human curiosity and inspired artistic representation, as recorded by [[Pliny the Elder]],<ref>Pliny the Elder, ''Natural History'', xxxv, 14</ref> and various forms of [[shadow play]] since the 1st millennium BCE.<ref name=chen25>Fan Pen Chen (2003), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1179080 Shadow Theaters of the World], Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 62, No. 1 (2003), pp. 25-64</ref><ref name=orr69>{{cite journal | last=Orr | first=Inge C. | title=Puppet Theatre in Asia | journal=Asian Folklore Studies | publisher=Nanzan University | volume=33 | issue=1 | year=1974 | doi=10.2307/1177504 | pages=69–84| jstor=1177504 }}</ref>. The photogram in essence is a means by which the fall of light and shade on a surface may be automatically captured and preserved.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Stoichiță, Victor Ieronim | title=A short history of the shadow | publication-date=1997 | publisher=Reaktion Books | isbn=978-1-86189-000-9 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | author1=Barnes, Martin | author2=Neusüss, Floris Michael | author3=Cordier, Pierre, 1933- | author4=Derges, Susan, 1955- | author5=Fabian Miller, Garry, 1957- | author6=Fuss, Adam, 1961- | author7=Victoria and Albert Museum | title=Shadow catchers : camera-less photography | publication-date=2012 | publisher=London New York Merrell London in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum | edition=Rev. and expanded ed | isbn=978-1-85894-592-7 }}</ref> To do so would require a substance that would react to light and from the 17th century photochemical reactions were progressively observed or discovered in salts of silver, iron, uranium and chromium and in some organic substances. In 1725 [[Johann Heinrich Schulze]] was the first to demonstrate a temporary photographic effect in [[Silver halide|silver salts]], confirmed by [[Carl Wilhelm Scheele|Carl Wilhhelm Scheele]] in 1777, who found that violet light caused the greatest reaction in [[silver chloride]]. [[Humphry Davy]] and [[Thomas Wedgwood (photographer)|Thomas Wedgewood]] reported that they had produced pictures from stencils on leather and paper, but had no means of fixing them.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Hannavy, John | title=Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography | publication-date=2005 | publisher=Taylor & Francis Ltd | isbn=978-0-203-94178-2 }}</ref>
The phenomenon of the shadow has always aroused human curiosity and inspired artistic representation, as recorded by [[Pliny the Elder]],<ref>Pliny the Elder, ''Natural History'', xxxv, 14</ref> and various forms of [[shadow play]] since the 1st millennium BCE.<ref name=chen25>Fan Pen Chen (2003), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1179080 Shadow Theaters of the World], Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 62, No. 1 (2003), pp. 25-64</ref><ref name=orr69>{{cite journal | last=Orr | first=Inge C. | title=Puppet Theatre in Asia | journal=Asian Folklore Studies | publisher=Nanzan University | volume=33 | issue=1 | year=1974 | doi=10.2307/1177504 | pages=69–84| jstor=1177504 }}</ref>. The photogram in essence is a means by which the fall of light and shade on a surface may be automatically captured and preserved.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Stoichiță, Victor Ieronim | title=A short history of the shadow | publication-date=1997 | publisher=Reaktion Books | isbn=978-1-86189-000-9 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | author1=Barnes, Martin | author2=Neusüss, Floris Michael | author3=Cordier, Pierre, 1933- | author4=Derges, Susan, 1955- | author5=Fabian Miller, Garry, 1957- | author6=Fuss, Adam, 1961- | author7=Victoria and Albert Museum | title=Shadow catchers : camera-less photography | publication-date=2012 | publisher=London New York Merrell London in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum | edition=Rev. and expanded ed | isbn=978-1-85894-592-7 }}</ref> To do so required a substance that would react to light, and from the 17th century [[Photochemistry|photochemical]] reactions were progressively observed or discovered in salts of silver, iron, uranium and chromium and in some organic substances. In 1725 [[Johann Heinrich Schulze]] was the first to demonstrate a temporary photographic effect in [[Silver halide|silver salts]], confirmed by [[Carl Wilhelm Scheele|Carl Wilhhelm Scheele]] in 1777, who found that violet light caused the greatest reaction in [[silver chloride]]. [[Humphry Davy]] and [[Thomas Wedgwood (photographer)|Thomas Wedgewood]] reported<ref>Sir Humphry Davy (1802) 'An Account of a Method of Copying Paintings Upon Glass and of Making Profiles by the Agency of Light upon Nitrate of Silver, invented by T. Wedgwood Esq. In ''Journal of the Royal Institution''</ref> that they had produced pictures from stencils on leather and paper, but had no means of fixing them.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Hannavy, John | title=Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography | publication-date=2005 | publisher=Taylor & Francis Ltd | isbn=978-0-203-94178-2 }}</ref>


===Nineteenth century===
===Nineteenth century===

Revision as of 08:20, 4 July 2019

A photogram of a number of photography-related objects.
A colour photogram of lemons and tomato stems. The background texture is enlarged paper grain.

A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light.

The usual result is a negative shadow image that shows variations in tone that depends upon the transparency of the objects used. Areas of the paper that have received no light appear white; those exposed for a shorter time or through transparent or semi-transparent objects appear grey,[1] while fully exposed areas are black in the final print.

The technique is sometimes called cameraless photography. It was used by Man Ray in his exploration of rayographs. Other artists who have experimented with the technique include László Moholy-Nagy, Christian Schad (who called them "Schadographs"), Imogen Cunningham and Pablo Picasso.[2]

Variations of the technique have also been used for scientific purposes, in shadowgraph studies of flow in transparent media and in high-speed Schlieren photography, and in the medical X-Ray.

History

One of Anna Atkins's cyanotype photograms of Festuca grasses

Prehistory

The phenomenon of the shadow has always aroused human curiosity and inspired artistic representation, as recorded by Pliny the Elder,[3] and various forms of shadow play since the 1st millennium BCE.[4][5]. The photogram in essence is a means by which the fall of light and shade on a surface may be automatically captured and preserved.[6][7] To do so required a substance that would react to light, and from the 17th century photochemical reactions were progressively observed or discovered in salts of silver, iron, uranium and chromium and in some organic substances. In 1725 Johann Heinrich Schulze was the first to demonstrate a temporary photographic effect in silver salts, confirmed by Carl Wilhhelm Scheele in 1777, who found that violet light caused the greatest reaction in silver chloride. Humphry Davy and Thomas Wedgewood reported[8] that they had produced pictures from stencils on leather and paper, but had no means of fixing them.[9]

Nineteenth century

Some of the first photographic images made were photograms. William Henry Fox Talbot called these photogenic drawings, which he made by placing leaves and pieces of material onto sensitized paper, then left them outdoors on a sunny day to expose. This produced a dark background with a white silhouette of the object used.[10]

As an advance on the ancient art of nature prints,[11] in which specimens were inked to make an impression on paper, from 1843, Anna Atkins produced a book titled British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions in instalments; the first to be illustrated with photographs. The images were all photograms of botanical specimens, mostly seaweeds, which she made using Sir John Herschel's cyanotype process, which yields blue images.[12] This very rare book can be seen in the National Media Museum in Bradford, England.

Modernism

Man Ray, 1922, Untitled Rayograph, gelatin silver photogram, 23.5 x 17.8 cm

In Modernism, and especially in Dada and Constructivism and in the formalist dissections of the Bauhaus, the photogram enabled experiments in abstraction by Christian Schad as early as 1918,[13] Man Ray in 1921, and Moholy-Nagy in 1922,[14] through dematerialisation and distortion, merging and interpenetration of forms, and flattening of perspective.

Christian Schad's 'schadographs'

In 1918 Christian Schad's experiments with the photogram were inspired by Cubism, creating photograms from random arrangements of discarded objects he had collected such as torn tickets, receipts and rags. Some argue that he was the first to make this an art form, preceding Man Ray and László Moholy-Nagy by at least a year or two,[15] and were published in 1920 in the magazine Dadaphone by Tristan Tzara, who dubbed them 'Schadographs'.[16]

Man Ray's rayographs

Photograms were used in the 20th century by a number of photographers, particularly Man Ray, whose "rayographs" were also given the name by Tzara.[16] His style capitalised on the stark and unexpected effects of negative imaging, unusual juxtapositions of identifiable objects (such as spoons and pearl necklaces), variations in the exposure time given to different objects within a single image, and moving objects as the sensitive materials were being exposed.[citation needed]

In the 1930s artists including Theodore Roszak, and Piet Zwart made photograms; Bronislaw Schlabs, Julien Coulommier, Andrzej Pawlowski, Beksinki and Kurt Wendlandt in the 1940s and 1950s; Lina Kolarova, Rene Mächler, and Andreas Mulas in the 1970s; Tony Ceballos, Kare Magnole, Andreas Müller-Pohle, and Floris M. Neusüss utilised the process in the 1980s.[16] Contemporary artists who are widely known for using photograms are Adam Fuss,[17] Susan Derges and Christian Marclay and younger artists worldwide[18] continue to value the materiality of the technique in the digital age .[19]

Procedure

Generation of a photogram: A broad-source light (1) illuminates objects (2 and 3) that are placed directly in front of a sheet of photosensitive paper. Depending on the object's distance to the paper their shadows look harder (7) or softer (5). Areas of the paper that are in total shadow (6) stay white; they become grey if the objects are transparent or translucent; areas that are fully exposed to the light (4) are blackened. Point source light (e.g. enlarger lens at a small f-stop) will cast hard shadows.

In a darkroom, or a darkened room, objects are arranged on top a piece of photographic material, or on printing-out paper or other daylight-printing material. When the operator is satisfied with the arrangement, the photographic material is exposed to light, usually by switching on an enlarger or other artificial light source, which may also be a broad source of light in order to cast umbra, penumbra and antumbra as shown in the accompanying diagram.

Variations include using multiple lightsources at once, exposing with multiple flashes, moving the light source during exposure, projecting shadows from a low-angle light, and using successive exposures while moving, removing or adding shadows. The print is then processed, washed, and dried.[20]

At this stage the image will look similar to a negative, in which shadows are white. A contact-print onto a fresh sheet of photographic paper will reverse the tones if a more naturalistic result is desired, which may be facilitated by making the initial print on film.[21]

List of notable photographers using photograms

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Photograms.
  • Luminogram: photogram using light only with no objects
  • Schlieren photography: light is focused with a lens or mirror and a knife edge is placed at the focal point to create graduated shadows of flow and waves in otherwise transparent media like air, water, or glass
  • Shadowgraph: like Schlieren photography, but without the knife-edge, reveals non-uniformities in transparent media
  • Chemigram: camera-less technique using photographic (and other) chemistry with light
  • Neues Sehen: László Moholy-Nagy's 'New Vision' photography movement
  • Cliche-verre: photographic printing technique using glass plates and light-sensitive paper
  • Drawn-on-film animation: cliche-verre technique in which movie film emulsion is scratched and drawn frame-by-frame

References

  1. ^ Langford, Michael (1999). Basic Photography (7th ed.). Oxford: Focal Press. ISBN 0-240-51592-7.
  2. ^ According to Alexandra Matzner in Christian Schad 1895-1982 Retrospectief issued by the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag (2009), ISBN 978-3-87909-974-0, p. 216, Schad was the first artist to use the photogram technique, developed by William Henry Fox Talbot. The photogram was applied by Man Ray, Moholy-Nagy and Chargesheimer after its introduction by Christian Schad, according to the author. However, this is not substantiated through further reference by Matzner. The Dutch catalogue was also issued in German by the Leopold Museum in Vienna (2008).
  3. ^ Pliny the Elder, Natural History, xxxv, 14
  4. ^ Fan Pen Chen (2003), Shadow Theaters of the World, Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 62, No. 1 (2003), pp. 25-64
  5. ^ Orr, Inge C. (1974). "Puppet Theatre in Asia". Asian Folklore Studies. 33 (1). Nanzan University: 69–84. doi:10.2307/1177504. JSTOR 1177504.
  6. ^ Stoichiță, Victor Ieronim (1997), A short history of the shadow, Reaktion Books, ISBN 978-1-86189-000-9
  7. ^ Barnes, Martin; Neusüss, Floris Michael; Cordier, Pierre, 1933-; Derges, Susan, 1955-; Fabian Miller, Garry, 1957-; Fuss, Adam, 1961-; Victoria and Albert Museum (2012), Shadow catchers : camera-less photography (Rev. and expanded ed ed.), London New York Merrell London in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, ISBN 978-1-85894-592-7 {{citation}}: |edition= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Sir Humphry Davy (1802) 'An Account of a Method of Copying Paintings Upon Glass and of Making Profiles by the Agency of Light upon Nitrate of Silver, invented by T. Wedgwood Esq. In Journal of the Royal Institution
  9. ^ Hannavy, John (2005), Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, Taylor & Francis Ltd, ISBN 978-0-203-94178-2
  10. ^ Talbot, William Henry Fox (1844). The Pencil of Nature. London: Special Collections Department, Library, University of Glasgow. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2010. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Schaap, Robert; Tsukioka, Kōgyo, 1869-1927, (artist.); Rimer, J. Thomas, (author.); Kerlen, H., (writer of supplementary textual content.) (2010), The beauty of silence : Japanese Nō and nature prints by Tsukioka Kōgyo, 1869-1927, Hotei Publishing, ISBN 978-90-04-19385-7 {{citation}}: |author3= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Schaaf, Larry J. (Larry John); Atkins, Anna, 1799-1871. Container of (expression) Photographs of British algae. Part 1; Atkins, Anna, 1799-1871, (photographer.); Chuang, Joshua, (editor.) (2018), Sun gardens : cyanotypes by Anna Atkins, The New York Public Library, ISBN 978-3-7913-5798-0 {{citation}}: |author4= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Neusüss, Floris Michael; Barrow, Thomas F; Hagen, Charles; Denver Art Museum (1994), Experimental vision : the evolution of the photogram since 1919, Roberts Rinehart Publishers in association with the Denver Art Museum, ISBN 978-1-879373-73-0
  14. ^ Moholy-Nagy, László; Witkovsky, Matthew S., 1967-, (editor.); Eliel, Carol S., 1955-, (editor.); Vail, Karole P. B., (editor.); Pénichon, Sylvie,, (writer of added text.); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, (organizer,); Art Institute of Chicago, (organizer,); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, (organizer,) (2016), Moholy-Nagy : future present (First ed.), Art Institute of Chicago, ISBN 978-0-86559-281-0 {{citation}}: |author2= has generic name (help); C1 control character in |author1= at position 17 (help); Text "d 1895-1946" ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ Rosenblum, Naomi (1984), A world history of photography (1st ed.), Abbeville Press, ISBN 978-0-89659-438-8
  16. ^ a b c Warren, Lynne; Warren, Lynn (2005), Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Photography, 3-Volume Set, Taylor and Francis, ISBN 978-0-203-94338-0
  17. ^ Fuss, Adam; Tannenbaum, Barbara; Akron Art Museum; National Gallery of Victoria (1992), Adam Fuss : photograms, Akron Art Museum
  18. ^ National Gallery of Victoria; Crombie, Isobel; Waite, Dianne (2003), Firstimpressions : contemporary Australian photograms, Council of Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria
  19. ^ "Abstract! 100 Years of Abstract Photography, 1917–2017". Suomen valokuvataiteen museo. 2017-04-27. Retrieved 2019-07-03.
  20. ^ Bargh, Peter. "Making a photogram - traditional darkroom ideas". ePhotozine.com. Magazine Publishing Ltd. Archived from the original on 30 December 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ Holter, Patra (1972), Photography without a camera, Studio Vista ; New York : Van Nostrand Reinhold, ISBN 978-0-289-70331-1
  22. ^ Brigit Katz, "How the first female photographer changed the way the world sees algae", Smithsonian, 30 May 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  23. ^ "At first light: the most iconic camera-less photographs – in pictures", The Guardian, 27 November 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  24. ^ "Christian Schad: Schadograph: 1918." MoMA. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
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