Artwork Page for Paracelsus

Details / Information for Paracelsus

Paracelsus

1959

Frederick Sommer

(American, 1905–1999)
Culture
America
Medium
gelatin silver print, waxed, from a paint on celluloid negative
Measurements
Image: 35.4 x 26 cm (13 15/16 x 10 1/4 in.); Matted: 61 x 50.8 cm (24 x 20 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1996.294
Copyright
Copyright
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print

Description

This photograph, from a rare group of experimental cameraless photographs, was made by applying paint to a large piece of cellophane, which was used as a negative. The image resembles a flayed human torso without legs, arms, or head. A sense of layering and disintegration are characteristic of Frederick Sommer's work. The title Paracelsus refers to the nickname of a famous German physician of the 16th century. Born Theophrastrus Bombast von Hohenheim (about 1490–1541), Paracelsus was a healer, apothecary, metallurgist, and alchemist who disavowed traditional knowledge. Undoubtedly this wanderer and learned doctor appealed to Sommer, whose own life has close ties with Surrealism and New Age Spiritualism.

Paracelsus

1959

Frederick Sommer

(American, 1905–1999)
America

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