{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O128501"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O128501/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM0672/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM0672/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BM0672","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Herbert Bayer","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4235","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Herbert Bayer","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O128501","accessionNumber":"CIRC.739-1968","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Shortly Before Dawn","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Bayer had a varied and influential career as a designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director and architect. He taught at the Bauhaus school in Dessau, Germany, and later took an interest in photomontage, both in his artistic work and advertising. Using this process, he combined his photographs with found imagery, producing surreal or dreamlike pictures.","physicalDescription":"Photomontage dreamscape featuring objects that vary in shape: from amorphous to natural to geometric","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Bayer, Herbert","id":"A11934"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"AAT25687"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Bayer, Herbert","id":"A11934"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"printer's ink","id":"AAT187371"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"printer's ink, paper, photomontage, photography","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"}],"styles":[{"text":"modern","id":"AAT121793"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2007BM0672","2006BK4235"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"DR","shelf":"4","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Germany","id":"x28873"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1936-1939","earliest":"1931-01-01","latest":"1940-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Acquired from Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London in 1968.","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"294","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image goes to edge of sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"386","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image goes to edge of sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"12.5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"1968","earliest":"1968-01-01","latest":"1968-12-31"},"part":"","note":"Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1968"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"10.5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"1968","earliest":"1968-01-01","latest":"1968-12-31"},"part":"","note":"Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1968"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"1/40 Bayer","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"bottom left of print"},{"content":"Herbert Bayer 1936/9","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Bottom right of print"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"Herbert Bayer was one of the leading figures in the Bauhaus movement in Germany and throughout his career was a highly influential graphic designer and artist.  Bayer began to experiment with photography while he was teaching advertising, typography and layout at the Bauhaus school in Dessau.  He produced some straight photographs, highlighting the abstract structures and sculptural qualities of things, but was never interested in the technical side of photography and so his exploration of straight photography was limited.  He left the Bauhaus in 1928 and established himself as a leading designer.  It was at this stage that he took and interest in photomontage.  He used the technique for his own artistic work but also in advertising work, where he was partly responsible for establishing photomontage as a key commercial visual style in the 1930s.  His main body of photographic work was produced in the late 1920s and the 1930s, after which he continued to develop other areas of visual design.","briefDescription":"Photograph by Herbert Bayer, 'Shortly Before Dawn', 1932-9, gelatin silver print","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Wood, Ghislaine, ed. <u>Surreal Things. Surrealism and Design</u> London : V&A Publications, 2007. 362 p. : col. Ill. ISBN: 978 1 85177 500 2 (HBK) 978 1 85177 501 9 (PBK)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1968"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"branch","id":"x39097"},{"text":"bone","id":"AAT11798"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<b>Photography Centre 2018-20:</b>\n\nHerbert Bayer (1900–1985)\r\nShortly Before Dawn\r\n1932–39\r\n\r\nBayer had a varied and influential career as a designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director and architect. He taught at the Bauhaus school in Dessau, Germany, and later took an interest in photomontage, both in his artistic work and advertising. Using this process, he combined his photographs with found imagery, producing surreal or dreamlike pictures.\r\n\r\nGelatin silver print, printed 1968\r\nMuseum no. CIRC.739-1968\r\n\r\n","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["CIRC.739-1968"],"accessionNumberNum":"739","accessionNumberPrefix":"CIRC","accessionYear":1968,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-07-31","recordCreationDate":"2006-10-11","availableToBook":false}}