Stefan Themerson

In the late 1920s the Themersons began to experiment with camera-less photography. Here, they used light, liquid, and in some cases branches of plants, to create abstract images. Photograms are made by laying objects directly on photo-sensitive surfaces and exposing them to light. In this case, Franciszka positioned objects on a glass shelf and moved the lights above. Stefan, lying underneath the glass shelf used a camera to photograph the arrangement from below. This process allowed the Themersons to create multiple prints of the abstract compositions.