Von Lintel Gallery is pleased to present work from acclaimed German photogram artist, Floris Neusüss.
A pioneer of experimental photography since 1958, Neusüss has devoted
his entire career to the rigorous study, practice and teaching of the
photogram technique.
Analog methods are experiencing a wave of resurgence as contemporary artists mine history to investigate the possibilities of photographic materials. Neusüss is recognized as part of the photogram vanguard along with predecessors Man Ray and Lázló Maholy-Nagy. His work has been included in major experimental photography exhibitions at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany; the Museum of Fine Arts Houston; and the International Center of Photography, New York among others.
The Von Lintel Gallery exhibition features the artist’s iconic nudograms—Körperbilder—from the 1960s and 70s that were made by exposing the human figure directly onto photographic paper. The proximity of the model to the paper influenced the sharpness of the contours and the amount of light dispensed affected the intensity of the tones. Movement—either accidental or intentional—dissolved and fractured the silhouettes into transcendent forms removed from any sense of time or place. Despite the subject’s absence, a palpable intimacy—or, presence—is felt. Such is the magic of a photogram.
A similar phenomena transpired when Neusüss applied the photogram to portraiture. He and Robert Heinecken were friends and collaborators. The Getty Museum owns Dinner for Heinecken—a Neusüss photogram exposed during a dinner that used light-sensitive paper in lieu of a table cloth. During another work session, Floris exposed Heinecken’s full body on profile. The work—included in the show—does not reveal any surface details and yet the expressive body language and attitude of the subject is uncannily recognizable. As Neusüss says, “If you knew Robert Heinecken, when you look at his portrait photogram, you automatically feel close to him.”
Also on view are early gelatin silver prints from late 1950s made while still a student in Munich; an innovative piece from the 1980s that merged a photogram with sculpture; and Nachtbilder, a series produced by placing photo paper emulsion side down into a woodland or garden at night. At times created during a thunderstorm, lightning would expose the paper from all directions, catching gusts of impressions from below and above. A sense of movement and chaos transformed the familiar into something much more arresting; an aesthetic echoed throughout Neusüss’ career.
Floris Neusüss was born in 1937 in Remscheid Lennep, Germany. He has exhibited internationally for over fifty years and his work is included in numerous public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Art Institute of Chicago; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. His work has been published in several monographs and he was the subject of an expansive illustrated volume produced in conjunction with the 2010-11 Victoria and Albert exhibition on the work of five camera-less photographers. He was an influential teacher in Germany and recently retired as Professor in Experimental Photography at the University of Kassel, a post he had held since 1971.
Neusüss lives and works in Kassel, Germany with his partner Renate Heyne.
Analog methods are experiencing a wave of resurgence as contemporary artists mine history to investigate the possibilities of photographic materials. Neusüss is recognized as part of the photogram vanguard along with predecessors Man Ray and Lázló Maholy-Nagy. His work has been included in major experimental photography exhibitions at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany; the Museum of Fine Arts Houston; and the International Center of Photography, New York among others.
The Von Lintel Gallery exhibition features the artist’s iconic nudograms—Körperbilder—from the 1960s and 70s that were made by exposing the human figure directly onto photographic paper. The proximity of the model to the paper influenced the sharpness of the contours and the amount of light dispensed affected the intensity of the tones. Movement—either accidental or intentional—dissolved and fractured the silhouettes into transcendent forms removed from any sense of time or place. Despite the subject’s absence, a palpable intimacy—or, presence—is felt. Such is the magic of a photogram.
A similar phenomena transpired when Neusüss applied the photogram to portraiture. He and Robert Heinecken were friends and collaborators. The Getty Museum owns Dinner for Heinecken—a Neusüss photogram exposed during a dinner that used light-sensitive paper in lieu of a table cloth. During another work session, Floris exposed Heinecken’s full body on profile. The work—included in the show—does not reveal any surface details and yet the expressive body language and attitude of the subject is uncannily recognizable. As Neusüss says, “If you knew Robert Heinecken, when you look at his portrait photogram, you automatically feel close to him.”
Also on view are early gelatin silver prints from late 1950s made while still a student in Munich; an innovative piece from the 1980s that merged a photogram with sculpture; and Nachtbilder, a series produced by placing photo paper emulsion side down into a woodland or garden at night. At times created during a thunderstorm, lightning would expose the paper from all directions, catching gusts of impressions from below and above. A sense of movement and chaos transformed the familiar into something much more arresting; an aesthetic echoed throughout Neusüss’ career.
Floris Neusüss was born in 1937 in Remscheid Lennep, Germany. He has exhibited internationally for over fifty years and his work is included in numerous public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Art Institute of Chicago; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. His work has been published in several monographs and he was the subject of an expansive illustrated volume produced in conjunction with the 2010-11 Victoria and Albert exhibition on the work of five camera-less photographers. He was an influential teacher in Germany and recently retired as Professor in Experimental Photography at the University of Kassel, a post he had held since 1971.
Neusüss lives and works in Kassel, Germany with his partner Renate Heyne.
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