Untitled
- Artist: Franciszka Themerson
- Artist: Stefan Themerson
- Date: 1928–9, printed later
- Medium: Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
- Dimensions: image: 304 x 216 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Untitled” by Franciszka Themerson and Stefan Themerson. It dates from 1928‑29 and is a black‑and‑white gelatin silver print, one of a small series of photograms the pair created when they were experimenting with camera‑less photography. The process was unusual: Franciszka would place objects—anything from liquid to plant branches—on a glass shelf and move lamps above it, while Stefan lay under the glass and used a camera to photograph the arrangement from below. By photographing the photogram itself, they could produce multiple prints of the same abstract composition, a technique that set them apart from other photogramists of the interwar era. The result is a striking interplay of light, shadow and texture that feels almost alive, revealing how the Themersons blurred the line between object and image.
See it in person
Untitled is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
