mood board

Christian Schad, Schadograph, 1919

Although cameraless photography had been used since the birth of the medium, it was largely abandoned until the early 20th century, when it was re-invigorated by such figures as Christian Schad, László Moholy-Nagy, and Man Ray. This renewed interest is most often attributed to Man Ray in 1922, but the artist Christian Schad had been using the photogram process for his Dada-inspired work since 1919.

Schad was known primarily as a painter and proponent of Neue Sachlichkeit prior to his brief involvement in Zurich Dada in the late 1910s. In true Dada fashion, he took the photogram out of the realm of traditional art subjects by placing such detritus as scraps of paper and fabric onto light-sensitive paper, resulting in his so-called Schadographs. The name Schadograph was coined by Dada leader Tristan Tzara, as a play on both the artist’s name and ‘the shadowlike character of the pictures’ (Experimental Vision, p. 9).

Dora Maar, Silence, 1935-1936

Photomontage was a technique adopted by the Surrealists for its ability to create new realities, and Dora Maar used it to great effect.  In many of her photomontages, Maar repurposed subjects from her street photographs to produce novel compositions.

In the present work, three figures are set against the photographically inverted vaults of the Orangeries at Versailles. These vaults were used in another of Maar’s famously disturbing images, The Simulator [see Dora Maar, Le Simulateur, vers 1936].The present image’s inexplicably curved ‘floor,’ gravity-defying figures, and the ominous admonishment ‘Silence,’ inscribed upon the wall, combine to create an unsettling atmosphere.

Bill Brandt, Belgravia, London, 1951

In  the 1983 documentary film about his life and work, Shadows from Light, Bill Brandt told filmmaker Stephen Dwoskin that the images for which he hoped to be remembered were his nude studies, of which the present photograph is one. The model in Belgravia, London is likely Marjorie Beckett, Brandt’s long-time lover and later second wife. 

Brandt’s photographic explorations from 1945 to 1960 were predominantly conducted through his photographs of nudes. An unlikely inspiration for this work came from the film Citizen Kane (a film which Brandt saw multiple times), specifically the wide-angle cinematography of Gregg Toland.

He told Dwoskin: ‘When Citizen Kane was first shown, I’d never seen a film in which real rooms were used and you could see everything, the ceiling and terrific perspective, it was all there. It was quite revolutionary, Citizen Kane, and I was very much inspired by it and I thought: I must take photographs like that.’

Rut spinne, 1927 -by Umbo (Otto Umbehr)   [+] [The Spider Rut (Ruth Landshoff)]