Lot Essay
Photography is today the most widely accessible means of achieving an image. The basis of photography is the activity of light on a surface sensitive to light. I propose to direct attention to the fact that it is possible to achieve an image on a light-sensitive layer not only by means of a photographic camera, and, moreover, even with its help, not only by means of the generally-known negative and positive processes.
(El Lissitzky, "Photography (Fotopis')", 1929, c.f., Eindhoven, El Lissitzky (1890-1941) architect painter photographer typographer, p. 70)
Lissitzky's use of the photogram began as early as 1922, perhaps as a result of meeting Moholy-Nagy in Berlin late the previous year. Unlike Moholy, or Man Ray for that matter, Lissitzky was more apt to experiment with the content of these unique works by incorporating camera-made imagery into the photograms (see: Tupitsyn, Experiments in Photography, pls. 1-3). This combination of light drawing and realism was not limited to works that are predominately photogram technique in nature. In many of his more accomplished works with photography he sought to combine methods, freely using any technique he deemed appropriate. For example, perhaps his best known work, The Constructor of 1924, employs the montage of negatives as well as photogram technique (Tupitsyn, Experiments in Photography, p. 26).
The Worker and Sphere photogram offered here relates strongly to the archetectonic structure of the non-objective Prouns. Here, however, Lissitzky adds a political and human dimension to the composition by adding the silhouetted figure of the worker from a glass plate negative within the sphere or globe. He employed a similar device in a photomontage created for the cover of the "Guide to the Pavilion of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" at the International Hygiene Exhibition, Dresden, 1930 (c.f., Harvard, El Lissitzky (1890-1941), p. 195, fig. 1930/5).
Original photograms that can be fully attributed to Lissitzky are rare.
(El Lissitzky, "Photography (Fotopis')", 1929, c.f., Eindhoven, El Lissitzky (1890-1941) architect painter photographer typographer, p. 70)
Lissitzky's use of the photogram began as early as 1922, perhaps as a result of meeting Moholy-Nagy in Berlin late the previous year. Unlike Moholy, or Man Ray for that matter, Lissitzky was more apt to experiment with the content of these unique works by incorporating camera-made imagery into the photograms (see: Tupitsyn, Experiments in Photography, pls. 1-3). This combination of light drawing and realism was not limited to works that are predominately photogram technique in nature. In many of his more accomplished works with photography he sought to combine methods, freely using any technique he deemed appropriate. For example, perhaps his best known work, The Constructor of 1924, employs the montage of negatives as well as photogram technique (Tupitsyn, Experiments in Photography, p. 26).
The Worker and Sphere photogram offered here relates strongly to the archetectonic structure of the non-objective Prouns. Here, however, Lissitzky adds a political and human dimension to the composition by adding the silhouetted figure of the worker from a glass plate negative within the sphere or globe. He employed a similar device in a photomontage created for the cover of the "Guide to the Pavilion of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" at the International Hygiene Exhibition, Dresden, 1930 (c.f., Harvard, El Lissitzky (1890-1941), p. 195, fig. 1930/5).
Original photograms that can be fully attributed to Lissitzky are rare.