Gelatin silver print
To create this series of photograms, which were made by layering objects directly onto sensitized paper and exposing it to light, Ei-Q used found materials such as lace, mesh, wires, and springs, as well as paper cut-outs of human and animal figures. He equated the creation of his dreamlike compositions with the act of painting or sketching, employing the French term “photo-dessin” (photo-drawing). Like other Surrealist photographers, Ei-Q invited the chance effects, irrational forms, and unexpected combinations that emerged from darkroom experimentation.
517: A Surreal Lens, 2025
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Ei-Q (Hideo Sugita)
Japanese, 1911–1960 12 works onlineThe photogram is a “synthesis of all photographic techniques,” Ei-Q once wrote, “using a photographic paper which, reacting sensitively to light, creates a construction that was never possible using any other materials.
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A Surreal Lens
Gallery 517In 1924, André Breton published his Manifesto of Surrealism, which, guided by Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theories, declared a radical break from the rationalism of modern society in favor of imagination, erotic desire, and unconscious thought.
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