Röntgenfoto van de ruggengraat van Isabel Wachenheimer 1935

This small x-ray of Isabel Wachenheimer’s spine seems to have been made with light, not paint. But, like a painting, its form and structure have emerged through a kind of process. I imagine the artist-technician placing the photographic plate and adjusting the machine, trying to capture an image that is both revealing and representative. What were they hoping to see, and what might they have been thinking about as the image slowly appeared? Did they consider the aesthetic qualities of the print, or were they only focused on the medical information it provided? The shades of grey and ghostly white evoke early photography. There's a rhythm to the repetition of vertebral forms, like standing stones in a field. The dark areas, like deep shadows, contrast with the highlights of bone. It reminds me of some of the early abstract photography, like Alvin Langdon Coburn’s Vortographs. Artists are always in conversation, even across different fields and eras, inspiring each other to see the world in new ways.