Leonardo

Chemigram: A New Approach to Lensless Photography

Author(s): Pierre Cordier
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Leonardo, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Autumn, 1982), pp. 262-268
Published by: The MIT Press
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Leonardo, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 262-268, 1982 0024-094X/82/040262-07$03.00/0
Printed in Great Britain Pergamon Press Ltd.

CHEMIGRAM:A NEW APPROACH TO LENSLESS

PHOTOGRAPHY
Pierre Cordier*
Abstract-The author describeshis lensless photographictechniquewhich he calls the chemigram technique.His
research, in which chanceplays an importantrole, is characterisedby a displacementof the values of each step in
making a photograph. Usually, a photographis producedthroughexposure to light, and the subsequentchemical
operationscontributeonly to making the latent imagepermanentlyvisible.But,for the author,the latter become the
generator of the image. Light takes on a secondary role. The essential elements in his work are: photosensitive
materials, chemical solutions and localizingmaterials. Thetechniquesarepara-photographic;they are morerelated
to engraving,painting, lithography,etc. than to photography itself

I. DEFINITION instrument, second in importance only to the photographer's

I invented the chemigram technique in 1956. In 1958, Otto eye' (Beaumont Newhall) [4]. Indeed, it seems obvious that
Steinert suggested that I exhibit three pictures at the Cologne these creators not only sought new forms of expression but also
Photokina for 'Subjektive Fotografie III'. He called them wanted to transgress the conventions of traditional
'Chemo-Fotogramme'. A few weeks later, I chose the term photography.
Louis Ducos du Hauron, in 1888, made 'anamorphoses',
'chimigramme'. (This French term and its English equivalent
veritable photographic disfigurements that, according to him,
'chemigram' are registered trade marks.) Etymologically, a
would reveal 'a vision of another universe' [5]. Alvin Langdon
chemigram is a written or drawn chemical sign. The word comes
from 'chemistry' and the Greek 'gramma',meaning writing. In Coburn, in 1917, realized the first non-figurative photographs,
'vortographs', 'stranger and more fascinating than the most
fact, any graphic sign obtained by chemical reaction (a spot of
fantastic dreams' [6]. Using a technique already known by some
rust, corroded copper, crystallisedsalt, etc.) could be called that,
but, to date, I have limited myself to chemical reactions on painters around 1855 (Corot, Millet, Delacroix, etc.) Gyorgy
Kepes since 1943 has made 'cliches-verre', which are images
photographic emulsions. A chemigram owes its existence to the
localized action of chemical substances (developer, fixer) on a printed from negatives that were hand-drawn or painted.
All this para-photographic research introduces us to a
photosensitive surface, without the use of the camera, enlarger reflection on the nature and functions of the photographic
or darkroom. The word 'chemigram' refers to both the
image. In a parallel way, some painters have overturned
technique and the resulting image.
pictorial conventions: Turner, Cezanne, Picasso, Paul Klee
('genius is the error in the system'), Jean Arp ('we sought new
II. LENSLESS PHOTOGRAPHY [1] materials unburdened by the curse of pictorial tradition' [7],
In 1923, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy wrote: 'The photogram is the Malevitch, Mondrian, Marcel Duchamp, etc. Traditional
true key to photography. Its possibilities could be greatly methods particular to each means of expression are no longer
extended with these new discoveries' [2]. The first lensless considered immutable by the 20th-century artist. Nowadays,
photographs were made before the invention of photography one can witness the reconciliation of various disciplines;
itself. Towards 1725, Johann Schulze applied stencils made of conventional borders are being over-run (painting-sculpture,
opaque paper on a bottle containing silver salts. After being painting-photo, photo-painting, etc.). Michel Seuphor: 'Art
exposed to light, the blackened salts would reveal the patterns can be anything, but in a certain manner'.
and words cut out in the paper [3]. Hippolyte Bayard
(1801-1887) made the same type of experimentsin his youth but
used ripening fruits. Fox Talbot, towards 1839, used feathers, III. PHOTOGRAPHY AND CHEMIGRAM
bits of cloth and flowers to make his 'photogenic drawings'. Traditional photography requireslight, a camera in which the
Around 1918, Christian Schad ('schadograms') and, in 1921, image is formed, the sensitive emulsion in which the latent image
Man Ray ('rayograms') and Moholy-Nagy ('photograms') is realised, the developer which makes the image visible and the
reinvented lensless photography. Man Ray described how to fixer that makes it durable. Therefore, light more or less acts
make this sort of picture. In the dark, one places any kind of upon certain parts of the emulsion while the developer and the
object on a sheet of photographic paper. Light is then projected fixer have an effect on the whole photosensitive surface. In the
on the whole. The objects that have been placed protect the chemigram, light plays a passive role on the whole surfacewhile
sensitive surface and so do the shadows cast by them. Once the the developer and fixer are used to produce a localized effect.
paper, thus exposed, is developed, the rayogram appears Can one still speak of 'photography'? From a purely physical
outlined in white and graduated in very delicate gray values. point of view, yes. Photo-graphymeans to write with light, and,
One can object that that is not true photography. Indeed, although light is passive in the chemigram technique, it is still
camera and lens are not involved. The rayogram is a marginal necessary for forming an image. Furthermore,the materialused
procedure in which each picture is an original. 'It is a synthetic is the same (emulsions, products). Whatever the case may be,
rather than an analytic process, a tributaryof the main stream of these distinctions are academic and the basic differences reside
photography in which the camera has been the indispensable in the creative process.
Let us compare a photographer's creation with that of a
chemigram-artist.A photographer is attractedby the sight of an
*Artist, rue Reigersvliet 20, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium. (Received 26 old wall (much like Leonardo da Vinci had been in his time), and
May 1978, revision 22 April 1981.) he photographs a crack in it. He was able to see the crack and

262
 u o 9 z X X ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,.
. .

A New Approach to Lensless Photography 263

make it conspicuous through the photographic technique: ,,

lighting, framing, exposure, development, printing. But he did
not create the crack, and, had he wanted to produce it, he would
probably have had to wait a long time under conditions difficult
to acquire. Such, however, is possible for the chemigram-artist.
Instead of going out to look for a nice crack, he creates the
conditions most suitable for its formation on photosensitive
emulsion. Thus, the latter not only becomes the wall (prop for
the crack) but also the photographer's negative (as the prop for
the inscription of the image due to the localized action of
developer and fixer). And these two chemical reactions (crack
and inscription) simultaneously interpenetrate under the |""'
"~~~......... ._
chemigram-artist's active or passive supervision (Fig. 1). .
...... ...l r
1!!**
, ,..-"iii .i.ii..........n.
-!i 3111Et!! ,

;,) ..

4
t'" 'if ~iqw'' ,
.. i^ JE .. ..

Fig. 2. 'Chemigram 7/10/72', detail, 14.5 x 14.5 cm.

changing the solutions, varying their temperature, by

intervening manually or with instruments, etc. While the
painter's hand traces the lines and fills in the surfaces one after
another, the solution in which chemigrams are immersed
simultaneously attacks different parts of the emulsion. Thus,
within a few minutes, one can obtain an image whose structures
are so numerous and fine that no photographic reproduction
could compare with the original.

V. CHANCE
The part of the unforseeable inherent to all true creation.
Fig. 1. 'Chemigram 18/12/62', 10 x 12 cm. (Michel Seuphor)
You know, no one in the world can eliminate chance since
IV. PAINTING AND CHEMIGRAM life itself is a chance happening.But one can control, direct,
Rid of camera, enlarger and darkroom, the chemigram-artist accept or refuse chance. (Cesar [8])
before a blank sheet is faced with the same problems as the
Chance only favors a receptive medium. (Pasteur)
painter: what motive, what composition, what forms, what
structures, what colors to choose? Another analogy: a At the time that I started making my first chemigrams, there
chemigram is a unique image. Obtained directly on the was still no talk of'aleatory' art, 'random' or 'open works'. Yet I
emulsion, it cannot be separated from its support, just as a was at once seduced by the adventure of systematically using
pictorial image can't be.Furthermore, although it is possible to chance. I arranged certain materials on a sheet of photographic
create similar chemigrams, they will never be identical (as may paper, and I immersed it in different solutions, making images
be two photographic prints of the same negative). In fact, the appear. Day after day, I took notes to be able to obtain the same
conditions that are brought together to obtain chemigrams vary images at will or rather, the same kind of images.
constantly (products, temperature, physical-chemical reac- I think a chemigram corresponds well to Umberto Eco's
tions, etc.). definition of an 'open work': a work deliberately conceived so
One of the (apparent) superiorities of painting over that one or several elements of chance can be introduced to
photography is that the former retains, in the paint itself, a trace modify its structure [9]. I have often been taken to task for
of the painter's work. Unless it is dissolved, scratched or torn, a giving such an important role to chance in my research.
chemigram's emulsion shows no more of the trace of creative Although I am indifferent to such criticism, I would like to
work than does a photo. However, while the painter's canvas is answer here.
an inert, inactive material, a photosensitive emulsion is alive. First of all, by taking notes, I try to reduce the amount of
The chemical products that constitute it make it possible to chance, to cultivate it, adapt it, control it according to a certain
obtain unlimited variations in form and color. goal I have set for myself. 'In our work we are constantly
Although a photograph is registered in an instant, a discovering new effects which often result from mistakes. There
chemigram has the following in common with a painting: its is no other way to cultivate mistakes than to intentionally repeat
forms and colors appear progressively, gradually, like the slow them until the percentage of the accidental element becomes so
deposit of alluvium, like erosion of rocks by sand and wind (Fig. small and our control so precise that with a good conscience we
2). The making of a chemigram may be modified at any time by can again call the picture our own' (Ernst Haas) [10]. Second, I
264 Pierre Cordier
cannot conceive of the chemigram as anything other than captured by photography, and a spectator looking at a
aleatory; it is part of its nature and chance will always remain my chemigram will react the same way as he does looking at a
best collaborator. Finally, I could point out that many have photo. He will believe in the 'reality' of what is shown. This
tried to integrate chance with art. In music, John Cage says that allows him to dream, to go on a 'photo-safari' while sitting in his
he has used chance to rid himself of his own intentions and to armchair, to see what Ren6 Magritte called 'the unexpected
attain a 'silent music' [11]. Earl Brown, Karl-Heinz images of the unknown'[14] (Fig. 3 and Color Plate No. 2). My
Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis call it 'stochastic music'. 'I use chemigrams appear as fictitious photographs of an imaginary,
the computer as a partner in my work' says Manfred Mohr [12]. improbable and inaccessible world.
'Randomness is in fact a fundamental idea of the twentieth
century, it is in the heart of biology, it is in the heart of new arts.
This is understandable: by meeting with chance an artist strives
to arouse and awake genius' (Edgar Morin) [13]. VII. CHEMIGRAM TECHNIQUE

VI. PSEUDO-PHOTOGRAPHY According to Moholy-Nagy, a photogram 'is the most

completely dematerialized medium which the New Vision
The incredible but true is not art, while what is untruebut commands' [15]. Yet it seems that the chemigram, freed of the
likely can be. camera, the enlarger and the darkroom, would be the most
(Alexandre Alexeieff) elementary technique to create images with photographic
Materially, a photograph appears as a flat image comprised of material. When I invented the chemigram, I was an amateur
marks: dots, lines, more or less dense and colored areas. So does without training and without set ideas I was thus able to
a chemigram. With a camera the marks are produced transgress photographic practice by:
automatically in such a way that the image resembles the subject (1) Mistreating the photographic material. Photographic
photographed. Sometimes, the resemblance is such that one can emulsions are more sturdy than they appear and will endure
confuse the subject and its photograph. A chemigram is being scratched, dissolved, torn, cut, folded, etc. Man Ray said:
obtained without the use of a camera (without any bearing on 'The violation of the medium employed is the most perfect
visible or invisible reality) but with the same chemicals and on assurance of the author's convictions' [16].
the same emulsions as in photography. Therefore, when I (2) Eliminatingthe darkroom.To make chemigrams, light is in
succeed (by dosing with developer, fixer and dyes) in suggesting fact required in the room in which one works.
the light, the material, the colors, the outline, the depth of (3) Fromfixer to developer.It is photographic doctrine not to
things, I obtain a chemigram that is similar to a photograph: a reverse the developer/stop bath/fixer/washing sequence. Yet
'pseudo-photograph'. Indeed, one doesn't doubt the 'reality' this practice is common in the chemigram technique. The only
inconvenience is that one must replace the chemicals more
frequently.
(4) Blending different graphic techniques. Preoccupied with
photographic technique, photographers often do not work in
other art media. The chemigram is, like Marcel Duchamp's
Mixed Media, a hybrid. The French photographer Daniel
Masclet said: 'The bad photographer ignores the rules, the good
respects them, and the great breaks them.'
Chemigram techniques involve the combination of three
basic elements:
(1) Photosensitive materials. Any photosensitive surface can
be used (paper, film, plates, textiles, aluminium, etc.). Each
material will yield original results. Chemigrams on transparent
material can be contact printed or enlarged.
(2) Chemical solutions. These are used in developing, fixing,
coloring, toning, weakening, strengthening, bleaching and
dissolving of photographic emulsions. I use the developer like a
crayon and the fixer like an eraser. The fixer, however, is a
peculiar eraser as you must use it before the developer. The
effects of the chemical solutions can be varied by changing their
composition, concentration, temperature, agitation and period
of use.
(3) Localizing substances. They determine the designs,
structures and patterns of the chemigram by more or less
masking or exposing certain parts of the photosensitive surface.
They perform a similar role to that of the negative in
photography: instead of controlling the amount of light, they
control the attack by the chemical solutions on the emulsion.
The localizing substances are numerous, and they can be soft,
hard, dry, sticky, brittle, etc.
By varying separately or together these three basic elements,
the creative possibilities are endless. However, I would like to
caution the reader that great patience is required and that the
element of chance in this process results in a significant portion
of failures or uninteresting pictures that should be discarded.
Certain techniques that I tried were abandoned because of the
high proportion of poor quality pictures produced.
Fig. 3. 'Chemigram28/5/61', detail, 9x 7 cm. In 1970, I made a series of extremely simple images which I
 A New Approach to Lensless Photography 265
called 'Minimal Photography'. I tried to demonstrate that the VIII. COLOR CHEMIGRAMS
chemigram is the easiest way to obtain an image with
The tones that appear in the chemigrams mentioned above
photographic material. An explanation of the method I used to
make these images can serve well as an introduction to the are the result of chemical reactions such as oxidation,
chemigram technique: (1) White paper. Without exposing it too photolysis, etc. These tones (yellow, brown, blue, beige) are not
long to light, the photographic paper is immersed directly in the bright but resist quite well attack by light. To obtain brighter
fixer. (2) Black paper. With full exposure to light, the paper is colors, one can adapt many old and new photographic
immersed in the developer. (3) Gray paper. The paper is techniques (toners, dyes, etc.). Since 1961, I have used the dye-
immersed in a diluted developer. (4) Blue or purple paper. The coupler developer process which gives bright colors, but,
photographic paper is exposed to very bright light. (This is unfortunately, they are unstable to light.
called 'photolysis'.) Each emulsion type and contrast grade of A photographer has the advantage (and handicap) of
paper will colour differently: silver chloride emulsions become capturing simultaneously all the colors of a given subject matter
purple and silver bromide emulsions become blue. (5) Beige (landscape, still life, portrait, etc.). Of course, he can influence
paper. When a photolyzed paper is immersed in the fixer, it will his results by choosing his subject, film emulsion, filters, etc. He
not turn white, as one would imagine, but rather beige. (6) can also modify the resulting image by a particular method of
Yellow or brown paper. Reversing photographic practice, one printing.
transfers the paper from the fixer to the developer. A short stay In my work, I begin with a blank sheet of paper. Sometimes,
in the fixer (a dozen seconds) will produce a brown tint and a as in my earlier chemigrams, I let chance select my colors. Most
longer stay (half a minute) a yellow tint. (7) Gradations from often, however, I choose my colors before starting to work, and
white to black through yellow and brown. The paper is I find myself like the constructivist artists who visualize their
immersed slowly into the fixer so that the top of the paper is composition before its creation. In order to choose the different
fixed longest and the bottom the least. colors that I will use in a chemigram, I spend a good deal of time:
Another method of making elementary chemigrams is what I (1) experimenting with the materials (emulsions, developers,
call 'chemiscript'. If, in the light, one draws or writes on the color dyes, localizing substances, etc.); (2) scrutinizing small
photographic paper with a brush wet with developer, one will details in nature and photographs of them (by me and others):
obtain black marks on a light background. By using more stones, insects, pebbles, rot in old houses, decaying walls,
concentrated or more dilute developer, one can control the scarification on leaves, etc., and in general anything dealing with
tones, as in making a watercolor. When the results are stratification; (3) learning from the painting of great modern
satisfactory, the paper is then fixed. To obtain white markings artists (Paul Klee, Nicolas de Stael, Max Ernst, Albers, Turner,
on a dark background, one reverses the method. etc.); (4) studying the theories of color such as those of Goethe,
The true challenge in making chemigrams is to determine a Chevreul, Munsell, Itten, etc.
form through a localizing substance. In the series 'Minimal
Photography', I demonstrated that it was possible, without a IX. PHOTO-CHEMIGRAMS
camera, darkroom, or pencils, to inscribe a square within In chemigrams, analogies can mostly be found in what
another square. If someone wishes to take a shower without
Gyorgy Kepes calls the 'New Landscape' (macro and
wetting his hair, he wears a waterproof cap; this is the basic
microphotos, crystalgraphs, vegetable sections, aerial views,
principle of the chemigram technique.
To obtain a white square on a black surface:I cut a square out etc.) [17], but analogies with human reality are very rare.
For this reason, in 1963 I1invented a way to transferany image
of an adhesive-backed plastic. I press it onto the middle of a
(drawing, photo) onto the photographic emulsion so as to be
photographic paper. I immerse the paper in the developer. able to then treat it as a chemigram. These are 'photo-
Except for the portion covered by the plastic, the paper will
become black. I transferthe paper to the stop bath and wait until chemigrams'. Man Ray said: 'I paint what can not be
the plastic is easily removed. Then I fix and wash the paper. To photographed. I photograph what I do not wish to paint' [18].
obtain a black square on a white surface, the paper with a square Likewise, what I can't obtain with chemigrams I obtain with
adhered to it, is immersed first in the fixer and then in the photo-chemigrams. Like many painters, I choose my motifs in
reproductions of paintings or photos, and sometimes I use my
developer. own photographs.
To obtain a white square, delineated with a thin black line, on
I have made series based on a child's face, a nude, a toboggan,
a white surface: I press a plastic square onto the middle of the
16 mm. film strips (Fig. 4), astronauts' heads ('cosmograms')
paper. I immerse the paper in the fixer for a normal fixing time, and Andy Warhol ('warholograms'), and other series entitled
then wash it for approximately 5 minutes. I place it in the
'Hommage a Muybridge' (Fig. 5), 'Hommage 'aNonyme' (Fig.
developer. If the plastic is transparent, I will be able to see a thin
black line form along the square. I transfer the paper to the stop 6), 'Hommage au Docteur Land' (Fig. 7), 'Hommage a Marey'
bath, remove the adhesive, and fix definitively. How did the thin (Fig. 8), 'Sexquence', 'Livrillisible' (Fig. 9), etc. Photo-
black line form? From the action of the water and developer, the chemigrams may come from the same basic image, where each
one is processed separately. For example, I can add different
plastic gradually came unglued along its edges. The developer structures in the motif and/or in the background. Chance helps
was able to reach part of the emulsion that had not been fixed
me to transform the image in a radical way. 'It's as if the image,
and thus blacken it. This is an important effect in the chemigram
starting from its outward appearance, was going on a trip
technique.
For more elaborate chemigrams, it is possible to replace the through a new dimension' (Valerio Adami) [19].
adhesive plastic with other localizing materials. Personally, I
prefer those which do not protect the surface too well. X. DIFFUSION
Particularly useful ones are those which peel off, dissolve, erode, In photography, certain artists print limited editions or even a
melt, scratch, break, bend, etc. single print (sometimes by symbolically or actually destroying
Another important effect is illustrated when each bath affects the negative). This practice, long used by engravers and
a different area, darkening with developer, lightening with fixer. lithographers and nowadays employed in silk screen, to me
One can continue alternating from one bath to the other until seems contrary both to the very nature of photography and to
the localizing material has disappeared. It is possible to read the the concept of democratization of art. Because a chemigram is
history of growth of such a chemigram as one reads the age of a by its very nature unique, the problem of limiting the number of
tree by counting the concentric rings. prints does not come up. On the other hand, while uniqueness
 K

266 Pierre Cordier

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.... ..... ..

.;,~,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
..

, ~~.. . .

~.:~ ~ ....-'
~~~~~...'i,.j
'.~~~~~~~~ :i...:~:
,:?""::.......

- -J
"'-----
gX~;~i' ., .
,

~~~~~-,::i:i
::~~~~~~~~~~~~~-#'
~. **:. !~i~~~~~~~.
..~..:'...... ?i;~!!;i::ii!,!!i;~;~':::'-~
...... . ......
.....i
:. . . . ., . 'E
_:!i.:.:,:
: !~;t ?
,~~~~~~~~~~
-:
.. ~Sn .4
- .4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..
..
Fig. 6. 'Photo-chemigram 16/12/73 I, "Hommage t Nonyme 1972"',
Ii. detail 4.5x 4 cm.

Fig.4.'Phto-
he igam 1 ,"O

cm.X.
...... A.
.7'Phtv

Fig. 4. 'Photo-chemigram 1966, "Olivier 16 mm" ', 25. 7 x 20 cm.

Fig. 5. 'Photo-chemigram6/10/77 II, "Hommage d Muybridge 1972"', Fig. 7. 'Photo-chemigram 16/5/76 II, "Hommage au Docteur Land"',
detail, 9 x 14 cm. 12.5 x 10 cm.
 A New Approach to Lensless Photography 267

Fig. 8. 'Photo-chemigram27/9/78 V, "Hommagea Marey 1975"', detail

J8, 4.5 x 4.5 cm.

es _GSd za Xs-E
Fig. 10. 'Chemigram21/4/72 II', computerengravingmade by Manfred
Mohr (Program 48, 1970), 16 x 12 cm.
el a | 3- J -_s
! i * * -

L - -

may increase the value of the original, it hampers its diffusion.

Thus, rather than mass-produce chemigrams, I have turned to
---

a - ^ _ w~~j..'
various techniques of reproduction: color slides for projection,
films, video, offset, dye-transfer,carbon print, Cibachrome, etc.
W_Yw _ 0 _ Although such reproductions unavoidably lead to a loss in
quality, they do, however, allow me to isolate and enhance by
enlarging the details of certain chemigrams.

XI. GOALS
I'll not go into the deep-seated reasons for which I prefer
making chemigrams rather than something else. But I list here
eight main reasons that outline my goals.
From a technical point of view: (1) Uniting different graphic
techniques. I have never had traditional training, either
technical or artistic, and do not belong to any particular group
of image-makers. This simplifies but also complicates my task.
Photographers feel that I imitate painters and painters cast me
as a photographer. Luckily, more and more, the borderlines
between different artistic disciplines are being crossed [20].
Someone once said that labels were good for sticking on
luggage; as for me, I dream of open workshops where creators
could freely choose their techniques according to their
inspiration. (2) Bringing new techniques to photography. This is
to give the possibility to free ourselves from the technicality and
the automatic workings of modem photography. (3)
Methodically studying the possibilities of the chemigram
technique.
Fig. 9. 'Photo-chemigram28/9/78 IF, Fifthpage of the 'Livrillisible1964' From a creativepoint of view:(4) Using the creative resource of
from the novel by Jorge Luis Borges La bibliotheque de Babel, 17x 11 cm. chance (Section V). (5) Exploring the ambiguous area that
268 Pierre Cordier
separates the figurative from the non-figurative, seeking 2. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Visionin Motion (Chicago: Paul Theobald,
'differential thresholds' (in photo-chemigrams) (Fig. 4). (6) 1947) p. 188.
Preserving the characteristicregistration of localizing materials. 3. Helmut and Alison Gernsheim, A ConciseHistory of Photography
Each material has its own characteristic way of registering. (London: Thames & Hudson, 1965) pp. 15-16.
4. Beaumont Newhall, History of Photography(New York: Museum
Thus, one can make the chemigram of a product as one can
of Modern Art, 1964) p. 161.
make a 'photogram' of an object or a 'photograph' of a person. 5. Beaumont Newhall, op. cit., p. 162.
(7) Transforming images (photos, drawings, paintings) to give 6. Aaron Scharf, CreativePhotography(London: Studio Vista, 1965)
them another appearance (Section IX). (8) Inventing images. p. 44.
This is to let the chemigram technique-by its own means and 7. Jean Arp, catalogue (Paris: Mus6e National d'Art Moderne, 1962)
with the intervention of chance-reveal to us 'pseudo- p. 82.
photographs' of unknown and unknowable beings or worlds 8. C6sar, sculptor, l'Express, Paris, 8 Nov 1971, p. 70.
(Section VI). 9. Umberto Eco, L'Oeuvre ouverte (Paris: Ed. du Seuil, 1965).
If chemigrams can now be appreciated,thanks to the pictorial 10. Ernst Haas, Popular Photography Color Annual, 1957, p. 30.
11. John Cage, Cles pour les arts, Bruxelles, Dec. 1970.
revolutions of the 20th-century's first decades, they could very
12. Manfred Mohr, I'A.R.C., catalogue (Mus6e de la Ville de Paris,
well have been invented in photography's early years; they are 1970) p. 36.
perhaps the last adventure with light-sensitive silver emulsions. 13. Edgar Morin, Journal de Californie(Paris: Ed. du Seuil, 1970) pp.
Soon, other techniques such as holography will take over. In 57-58.
1972, in collaboration with Manfred Mohr, a German artist 14. Rene Magritte, RhetoriqueNo 12, Bruxelles, 1968.
living in New York, I had my chemigramsengravedby a computer 15. L. Moholy-Nagy, Camera 4/1967 (Lucerne: Bucher, 1967) p. 30.
(Fig. 10). I am now looking forward to the day when I will be 16. Aaron Scharf, op. cit., p. 58.
able to devise some kind of machine that would program the 17. Gyorgy Kepes, The New Landscape (Chicago: Paul Theobald,
various conditions involved in the making of chemigrams: 1963).
18. Otto Hahn, l'Express, Paris, 11 Nov. 1974.
temperature, agitation, dilution, duration, etc. Pierre Schaeffer 19. Valerio Adami, catalogue (Brussels: Galerie Withofs, 1968).
once told his students: 'One must not look back; to see Eurydice 20. Aaron Scharf, Art and Photography (Harmondsworth, England:
is to lose her'. Allen Lane, Penguin Books, 1968).
[Editor's note-Photograms have been discussed in Leonardoby David
Haberstitch, Photography and the Plastic Arts, 6, 113 (1973); Alan W.
REFERENCES Bernheimer, Reflectographs: Nonfigurative Artworks Made Using
Photographic Materials, 11, 177 (1978); Arno Mandello, On My Non-
1. Peter Pollack, The Picture History of Photography (New York: Figurative Drawings on Photosensitized Paper and Acrylic Paintings,
Harry N. Abrams, 1969) pp. 330-345. 11, 210 (1978).]
 ~-~h""
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AN: "t:'7 ..

No. 1. Top left. David Makow. (Top) 'Roots', liquidcrystals on plastic board, 60 x 60 cm, 1980: (top left) seenfrom left, (top
right) seenfrom right. (Bottom) 'Flower', terracotta coated with liquid crystals, 25 x 25 x 25 cm, 1974: (bottomleft) seenfrom
left, (bottom right) seen from right. (See page 260)

No. 2. Top right. Pierre Cordier. 'Chemigram31/5/70', detail C4, 8 x 5 cm. (See page 264)

No. 3. Bottom left. Marta Tanguma. 'AndromedaII', polyester resin, 10 x 2.4 m, 1981. Installed in Centro Bancomer, a
subway station in Mexico City in 1982. (See page 305)

No. 4. Bottom right. Laser Affiliates and L.A.S.E.R. 'Water Dance' from 'Song of Ages' (Photo: J. Milton) (See page 296)