The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

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.

The Light That Never Was on Land or Sea, I

c. 1927–30

Francis Bruguière

(American, 1879–1945)
America
gelatin silver print
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.)
Ruthe and Heinz Eppler Fund 1994.104
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.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 113
  • CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art."
    Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997).
  • {{cite web|title=The Light That Never Was on Land or Sea, I|url=false|author=Francis Bruguière|year=c. 1927–30|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1994.104