The Art of photography

RespondingtotheSub/ect:ASpecialObject

RichardSteinbergwaswaryofcomingto

quickconclusionsaboutthe

mannequin,

sensingthathisfirstresponsemightbe

wrong.Thepicture

oppositewasthere-

sultofacarefulthoughtprocess,which

hedescribedinthefollowingway:"You

lookatthisdummyandhecangiveyou

thecreeps.Youthinkhecancomealive,

ormaybehehassome

kindofsupernatu-

ralpowersthatwecanneversee,be-

causeheexercisesthosepowers

when

heisaloneinaroom.Oryoumightfanta-

sizethatifyouputa

childonthedum-

my'slap,thechildwouldbeabletotalk

somesecret

mumbo-jumbolanguageto

it.ButIwantthetruth—notwhatsome-

thing

appearstobe

"Itrytothinkabout

wherethingscome

from,theiroriginsandevolution Ithink

aboutthedummy's

mother—

a

treethat

wasalivewithcells,generativepowers,

brancheslike

ganglia,andbarkwiththe

patternandgroovesofvariationand

life

rhythm.

Somebodycarvedit,putitto-

getherandrubbedit

"It

was

atransformationofapieceof

woodintoareplica

ofman'souterform,

butthe

dummyisalsountransformed.

He

istherealthing

—

nota

replica.Heisstill

partofalifeforce.Withoutlookingathis

outer

form

butlookingat

hisinnerform,

weseehismother'sbranches,theflow

fromthick

to

thin,theorganiclayering

thatgivesthegramaflowandpattern

AndsoIshowyouthatourdummyhas

life

—

anorganiclife.Ihaverejected

its

outwardhumanformbyreducingitto

pureblackandwhite,ashadowofits

formerself

"

Makingthepicturewascomplicated.

First,Steinbergplacedthe

mannequinon

awoodenflooranddirectedtwolightson

it,from

leftandright.Usingan 8 x 10

cameraloadedwithblack-and-whitefilm,

heexposed

atf/64for 10 secondsHe

madeacontactprintof

thenegative(giv-

inghimapositiveimage),andthencop-

iedtheprinton

high-contrastcopying

film(givinghimanegative).Next,the

treewasshotwitha 4 x 5 camera,and

thenegativewascontact-printed

direct-

lyontocopyingfilm,yieldingapositive

transparency.Hetoned

thetransparency

withbrowndyesandcutitinhalf.

Finally,heassembledthethreefilm

elementsonaglassplate,

withtheman-

nequin'suntoned,negativeimageinthe

middleandmade

thepicture

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