The Light That Never Was on Land or Sea, I

c. 1927–30

Francis Bruguière

(American, 1879–1945)

Culture

America

Medium

gelatin silver print

Measurements

Image: 23.4 x 18.3 cm (9 3/16 x 7 3/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)

Credit Line

Ruthe and Heinz Eppler Fund 1994.104

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Description

Francis Bruguière spent his career exploring new photographic forms. From the early 1920s to the early 1930s he photographed shapes or cut-paper designs that were dramatically lit to create complex, abstract patterns of light and dark. In the late 1920s he introduced figurative elements into these compositions. In this example, the fluid lines of the slashed paper define a head and upper torso. Keeping the lens continuously open, Bruguière moved his light source across the paper construction to create multiple, overlapping shadows cast from varying directions.

$Black-and-white photograph of cut paper creating geometric, angular forms evoking a figure. A circle in the upper right corner has slanted eyes, a triangle nose and a line for a mouth. A neck and shoulders appear to extend down, the head partially cut from the shoulders. In the lower left corner is the silhouette of a thumb and pointer figure extending up. In the background, a fractured collection of angular shapes have been cut out.$