PHOTOGRAMS pathfinder

The first in a series of art pathfinders I'll be posting, done for a humanities reference class.

PATHFINDER ON PHOTOGRAMS
by Michelene Orteza
July 17, 2008

Definition:
A photogram is a photograph taken without the use of a camera. The earliest experimentations in photography were photograms: objects were placed on light-sensitive paper and exposed to sunlight. Thus a photogram is a negative. The first photograms were used to record plants and other natural life and served a scientific purpose. Decades later, other photographers used this basic technique to create works of photographic art.

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries:
Grove Art Online
Oxford Companion to Western Art

Sample LC Subject Headings:
Photograms

A Selection of Artists:
Anna Atkins; photographer, scientist; England (1799-1871)
Sir John Herschel; artist, photographer, scientist; England (1792-1871)
László Moholy-Nagy; Hungarian-born artist, teacher; Germany, United States (1895-1946)
Robert Rauschenberg; painter, photographer, performance artist; United States (b. 1925)
Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitsky); photographer, painter, film-maker; United States (1890-1976)
Alexander Rodchecko; painter, sculptor, photographer; Russia (1891-1956)
Christian Schad; painter, photographer; Germany (1894-1982)

Recent Exhibition Catalogs:
Neusüss, Floris M., Thomas Barrow, and Charles Hagen. Experimental vision: the evolution of the photogram since 1919. Niwot, CO: Roberts Rinehart Publishers in association with the Denver Art Museum, 1994.

Recent Catalogues Raisonnés:
Ray, Man. Objets de mon affection. Paris: P. Sers, 1983.
Schad, Christian. Christian Schad: Texte, Materialien, Dokumente. Rottach-Egern: Richter, 2004.

Recent Books:
Schaaf, L.J. Sun Gardens: Victorian Photograms by Anna Atkins. New York: Viking Penguin, 1985.

Relevant Internet Sites:
All You Want to Know about Photograms
http://www.photogram.org/frame.html
Includes a bibliography, extensive images (including works of early photographers), photogram films, and an exhibition calendar.

Photograms: Art and Design
http://www.photograms.org/
Site of the photographer Les Rudnick who specializes in photograms; includes his own work as well as the text of his book The Photogram: A History, as well as links for equipment and galleries.