Week 36 - 2015
Lotte Jacobi, Pauline Koner, dancer, 1937/1970. Preus museum's collection
Dancing on clouds
In the picture we see the American dancer Pauline Koner, nearly weightless, surrounded by clouds, a piece of cloth—or what is it we see?
The image is a photomontage by photographer Lotte Jacobi in which she combines the picture of the dancer with one of her "photogenics," a form of photogram she created in the darkroom completely without camera or negative. Lotte Jacobi (1896-1990) often photographed the theater or the dance.
She was preoccupied with light, form, and movement, and in this picture she has combined the three. Photographers commonly use their pictures again and again and in various combinations. This image is composed of photographs from varied periods: the portrait of Pauline Koner is from ca. 1937, Jacobi experimented with "photogenics" between 1946 and 1955, and the final photomontage we see here is from 1970.