Shadows on the Wall: Cameraless Photography from 1851 to Today August 31–November 30, 2014
![Tasker-Lily](https://static.mfah.com/images/tasker-lily.9188410623356032150.jpg?width=290)
Dr. Dain L. Tasker, Lily, 1931, gelatin silver print from radiograph, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by Alexander and Muffy McLanahan, The Manfred Heiting Collection
Robert Heinecken, Recto/Verso #7, 1989, silver dye bleach print, photogram with text page, printed 1992, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Polaroid Foundation and Photography Accessions funds. © The Robert Heinecken Trust
Anna Atkins, Pteris aquiline, 1851, cyanotype, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by The Brown Foundation, Inc., The Manfred Heiting Collection
László Moholy-Nagy, Untitled, 1926, gelatin silver print, photogram, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund, The Manfred Heiting Collection. © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Christopher Bucklow, Guest, 25,000 Solar Images [AF], 5:03 pm, 10th October 1995, 1995, silver dye bleach print, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Manfred Heiting Collection, Museum purchase funded by Photo Forum 2002. © Christopher Bucklow
Floris M. Neusüss, Bin gleich zurück (Back in a Moment), 1984, gelatin silver print from photogram with wood chair, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by Photo Forum 1991. © Floris M. Neusüss
Drawn from the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Shadows on the Wall: Cameraless Photography from 1851 to Today presents 50 evocative images created with light and chemistry but without the use of a camera.
Made for science or for art, the photographs on view vary in size from a few inches to 25 feet. The images reflect a range of techniques as visually diverse as the movements of art to which they belong—recording the precise outlines of botanical specimens, the alchemy of the darkroom, or the abstraction of form. Although sometimes simply made, the photographs explore the complex relationship between reality and representation.
This exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Generous funding is provided by: