fri 10/05/2024

Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography, Victoria & Albert Museum | reviews, news & interviews

Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography, Victoria & Albert Museum

Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography, Victoria & Albert Museum

Five contemporary artists in unusual and entrancing photo exhibition

Adam Fuss, with 'Invocation', above, is among the five photographers who have returned to the pioneering age of camera-less photography

Camera-less photography isn’t, as some might think, a 20th-century invention, discovered by experimental Modernists such as Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray. Thomas Wedgwood, before the invention of the camera and at the very beginning of the 19th century, made paintings on glass and placed these in contact with pieces of paper and leather which had been rendered light sensitive with chemical treatments. Where the painted areas blocked the light, the image left its trace. Unfortunately, since Wedgwood lacked knowledge of how to fix the images, the results vanished almost as soon as they appeared.

Camera-less photography isn’t, as some might think, a 20th-century invention, discovered by experimental Modernists such as Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray. Thomas Wedgwood, before the invention of the camera and at the very beginning of the 19th century, made paintings on glass and placed these in contact with pieces of paper and leather which had been rendered light sensitive with chemical treatments. Where the painted areas blocked the light, the image left its trace. Unfortunately, since Wedgwood lacked knowledge of how to fix the images, the results vanished almost as soon as they appeared.

Comments

I couldn't believe that it's possible to capture something without the help of a camera. This is such an interesting blog. Thanks for sharing this

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