The curator is indebted to and has quoted from the following scholarly sources: Buchhart, Dieter, et. al., Edvard Munch: Signs of Modern Art, (exhibition catalogue), Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2007; Chang, Alison W., Negotiating Modernity: Edvard Munch’s Late Figural Work, 1900-1925, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Pennsylvania, 2010; Eggum, Arne, Munch and Photography. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987; Frizot, Michel, “L’âme, au fond: L’activité photographique de Munch et Stringberg,” in Lumière du monde, Lumière du ciel, Visions du Nord, (exhibition catalogue), Musee d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1998; Holt, Cecilia Tyri, Edvard Munch Fotografier, Forlaget Press, 2013; Kermabon, Jacques, et. al., Pathé: Premier empire du cinéma (exhibition catalogue), Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1994; Lampe, Angela and Clément Chéroux, et. al., Edvard Munch: The Modern Eye, (exhibition catalogue), Tate, London, 2007; Woll, Gerd, Edvard Munch: Complete Graphic Works, Oslo: Orfeus Publishing AS, 2012.
Image credits:
David, Jacques Louis (1748-1825): Marat assassiné, 1793. Brussels, Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts. Oil on canvas, 65 x 50 1/2' (165 x 128.3 cm) © 2020. Photo Scala, Florence; Edvard Munch, Starry Night: 1893, oil on canvas, 35.9 × 140.3 cm (53 1/2 × 55 1/4 in.), J. Paul Getty Museum, Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program; Edvard Munch: Aften på Karl Johan, 1890, oil on canvas, 84,5 × 121 cm, KODE, Rasmus Meyers samlinger. Foto: KODE/Dag Fosse; Edvard Munch: Det syke barn, 1885-1886, oil on canvas, 120 x 118,5 cm, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Billedkunstsamlingene Foto: Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland; Edvard Munch: Hus i måneskinn, 1893-95,oil on canvas, 70 × 95,8 cm, 100 × 110 cm, KODE, Rasmus Meyers samlinger. Foto: KODE/Dag Fosse; Edvard Munch: Melankoli, probably 1892, oil on canvas, 64 x 96 cm, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Billedkunstsamlingene, Foto: Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland; Edvard Munch: Måneskinn, 1893, oil on canvas, 140,5 x 137 cm, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Billedkunstsamlingene, Foto: Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland; Edvard Munch: Natt i Saint-Cloud, 1890, oil on canvas, 64,5 x 54 cm, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Billedkunstsamlingene, Foto: Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland; Edvard Munch: Selvportrett fra klinikken, 1909, oil on canvas, KODE, Rasmus Meyers samlinger. Foto: KODE/Dag Fosse; J.L. Nerlien, 1896, katalog, Munchs Hus (Åsgårdstrand). Foto: Wolday, Mekonnen/Munchs Hus; Steichen, Edward (1879-1973): Moonrise - Mamaroneck, New York (1904). New York, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Platinum, cyanotype, and ferroprussiate print, 15 1/4 x 19' (38.7 x 48.2 cm). Gift of the photographer. Acc. no.: 364.1964.© 2020. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence; Unknown photographer: Untitled, 1918. Gelatin silver print, 3 7/8 × 2 5/16" (9.9 × 5.9 cm). Gift of Jeffrey Fraenkel. Acc. no.: 670.2007. New York, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). © 2020. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence; Vobecky, Frantisek (1902-1991): Untitled (Self-Portrait), 1935. Gelatin silver print, 9 5/16 × 6 3/4" (23.6 × 17.2 cm). Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Thomas Walther. Acc. no.: 1896.2001. New York, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). © 2020. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence.
Olga and Rosa Meissner on the Beach, Warnemünde
1907. Collodion
The odd cropping of this image appears to be accidental, a failed amateur snapshot. However, Munch’s shadow renders this a kind of poetic self-representation in which both artist and models are present but also playfully hidden in plain sight. Photographic manuals warned amateurs not to place their bodies between the sun and their subject as the accidental shadow could spoil the picture. Munch seems to have relished such a “flaw” as it appears frequently in his photography just as it served as an expressive element in his paintings and graphic work. The disembodied shadow would become a mainstay of vanguard photography of the 1920s and thereafter.