{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O98735"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O98735/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O98735","accessionNumber":"E.880-2003","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Abstract Composition","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"To make this image Moffat placed a dragonfly directly in a photographic enlarger and projected it onto light-sensitive paper. Simple 'camera-less' techniques became popular in the 1920s and 1930s, with the desire to create pattern and explore new sensations of scale and space. Moffat also owned an interior design and decoration business in London from 1929 to 1933, and this image includes perspex and black glass that was on sale.","physicalDescription":"Negative image (luminogram, similar to a photogram) of a dragonfly on a black ground.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Moffat, Curtis","id":"A12876"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"AAT25687"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gelatin-silver print","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"none","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"X","shelf":"966","box":"F"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1930","earliest":"1925-01-01","latest":"1934-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Penelope Smail","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"36.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"29","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Curtis Moffat'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Photographer's signature on recto of mount."}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"'Abstract Composition', gelatin silver print by Curtis Moffat (1887-1949), about 1925","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>La Subversion de las imagenes. Surrealismo, fotograffia, cine</u> Paris: Centre Pompidou, 2009. ISBN: 9782844263902."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"dragonflies","id":"x30673"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Gallery 100, ‘History of photography’, 2011-2012, label text : \r\n\r\nCurtis Moffat (1887-1949)\r\nDragonfly\r\nAbout 1925\r\n\r\nSimple ‘camera-less’ techniques became popular in\r\nthe 1920s and 1930s, with the desire to create pattern\r\nand explore aspects of scale and space. Man Ray,\r\nwith whom Moffat worked in the 1920s, was one\r\nof the pioneers of this process. To make this image,\r\nMoffat placed a dragonfly directly in a photographic\r\nenlarger and projected it onto light-sensitive paper.\r\n\r\nGelatin silver print\r\nGiven by Penelope Smail\r\nMuseum no. E.880-2003\r\n","date":{"text":"07 03 2014","earliest":"2014-03-07","latest":"2014-03-07"}},{"text":"<b>Cameraless Photography</b>\r\n\r\nCurtis Moffat (1887–1949)\r\nAbstract Compositions\r\nc.1925\r\nGelatin silver prints\r\n59\t36.6 x 28.7 cm\r\n60\t37.2 x 29.4 cm\r\n61\t36.5 x 29 cm\r\n62\t29.1 x 24.5 cm\r\n\r\nGiven by Penelope Smail\r\nMuseum nos. E.880-2003, E.2555, 2557, 2554-2007\r\n\r\nMoffat began experimenting with photogram techniques in collaboration with Man Ray in Paris from 1923. He titled them Abstract Compositions and exhibited them in the showrooms of his London interior design emporium, Curtis Moffat Ltd., seeing them as an element within a decorative scheme. Yet he also described them as ‘painting with light’ and showed them as artworks in their own right. Alongside his use of the photogram, Moffat’s Abstract Compositions employed other cameraless techniques. In one image, an insect’s body – a grasshopper, locust or cricket – is used in place of a photographic negative. In another (p.62), he appears to have painted directly on the paper, perhaps with photographic chemicals.","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"Gallery 100 ‘A History of Photography’, 2014-2015, label text:\r\n\r\nCurtis Moffatt (1887–1949)\r\n‘Abstract Composition’\r\nAbout 1925\r\n\r\nMoffat’s work included dynamic abstract photographs, innovative colour still lives, and glamorous society portraits. In the early 1920s, he collaborated with the artist Man Ray in Paris, making abstract photograms, or ‘Rayographs’. These were made in the darkroom by placing objects directly on photographic paper to make the exposure. Photograms are unique and no camera or film is involved. \r\n\r\nGelatin silver print\r\nGiven by Penelope Small\r\nMuseum no. E.2557-2007\r\n","date":{"text":"06 03 2014","earliest":"2014-03-06","latest":"2014-03-06"}}],"partNumbers":["E.880-2003"],"accessionNumberNum":"880","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2003,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-05-01","recordCreationDate":"2004-05-25","availableToBook":false}}