Rayograph / Photogram Photography

Rayograph / Photogram is an important thread within the history of photography. It can be understood as a camera-less technique made by placing objects directly onto photographic paper. This movement page brings together photographers, eras, and related contexts so readers can see how the approach developed, where it circulated, and which artists help define its historical position.

Basic facts
MovementRayograph / Photogram
Photographers2

Overview

A camera-less technique made by placing objects directly onto photographic paper. Man Ray named his versions “rayographs,” while Moholy-Nagy developed a related practice as the photogram.

Photographers

🇺🇸 🇫🇷US / FR1890–1976
Man Ray
Surrealist Photography
DadaSurrealism+1

For Emmanuel Radnitzky, later known as Man Ray, the decisive turn toward photography came after the 1913 Armory Show and his growing friendship with Marcel Duchamp.

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🇭🇺 🇩🇪HU / DE1895–1946
László Moholy-Nagy
Bauhaus Photography
BauhausNew Vision+2

Born in Hungary, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy served in World War I and began drawing on his own while still in the trenches.

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