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Lot Essay
Cette rayographie fait partie des rares exemples qui combinent prise de vue solarisée et photogramme inversé, pour former une composition complexe qui s’étale sur toute la surface du papier en un « all over ». On distingue vaguement une locomotive avec sa roue en haut à gauche, mais l’ensemble est entièrement recouvert de formes arrondies noires, à l’exception de deux bords (en bas à gauche et le long de la hauteur à droite), annihilant ainsi ce qui constitue habituellement le centre d’une œuvre. Ces formes qui ressemblent à des pétales de fleur peuvent être des traces lumineuses projetées sur le papier en cours de développement, à plusieurs reprises puisque différents dégradés de lumière sont visibles, combinées à la surimpression d’une image elle-même solarisée. Le degré d’expérimentation est ici porté à son paroxysme, prouvant qu’il est inutile d’essayer de comprendre le comment d’une œuvre, mais bien plutôt qu’il faut « s’attacher à comprendre le pourquoi » comme disait Man Ray. Il existe une autre rayographie assez proche reproduite dans l’ouvrage publié par Man Ray en 1937 : La photographie n’est pas l’art (G.L.M.) Sous-titrée « Couverture d’un carnet acheté à un mendiant », cette dernière ne conserve que les taches noires, comme les traces d’un passage sur le trottoir qui aurait effacé les vestiges des temps modernes, encore présents sur cette première version.
This rayograph is one of the rare examples that combines a solarized shooting and an inverted photogram, forming a complex composition that spreads over the entire surface of the paper in an “all over” fashion. We can vaguely distinguish a steam engine with its wheel at the top left, but the entity is completely covered with black rounded shapes, except for two edges (at the bottom left and along the top right), thus annihilating what is usually the centre of a work. These shapes resembling flower petals could be luminous traces projected onto the developing paper, repeatedly as different gradations of light are visible, combined with the overprint of an image itself solarized.
The degree of experimentation is brought to a climax here, proving that it is useless to try to understand the actual how of a work, but rather that we must “focus on understanding the why” as Man Ray said. There is another rayograph quite similar reproduced in the work published by Man Ray in 1937: Photography is not art (GLM) Subtitled “Cover of a notebook bought from a beggar, the latter retains only black spots, like the imprint of a passage on the sidewalk which would have erased the vestiges of modern times, still present on this first version.
This rayograph is one of the rare examples that combines a solarized shooting and an inverted photogram, forming a complex composition that spreads over the entire surface of the paper in an “all over” fashion. We can vaguely distinguish a steam engine with its wheel at the top left, but the entity is completely covered with black rounded shapes, except for two edges (at the bottom left and along the top right), thus annihilating what is usually the centre of a work. These shapes resembling flower petals could be luminous traces projected onto the developing paper, repeatedly as different gradations of light are visible, combined with the overprint of an image itself solarized.
The degree of experimentation is brought to a climax here, proving that it is useless to try to understand the actual how of a work, but rather that we must “focus on understanding the why” as Man Ray said. There is another rayograph quite similar reproduced in the work published by Man Ray in 1937: Photography is not art (GLM) Subtitled “Cover of a notebook bought from a beggar, the latter retains only black spots, like the imprint of a passage on the sidewalk which would have erased the vestiges of modern times, still present on this first version.