Untitled (Photogenic) 1946 - 1955

Lotte Jacobi made this gelatin silver print; it's all about the way light moves and the shadows it creates. Jacobi's process feels like she's chasing something elusive, the way a painter might mix colors endlessly to capture a particular mood. The texture, almost silky, draws you in. Jacobi wasn't just pointing and shooting, she's sculpting with light, and manipulating the surface of the print to give it this ethereal quality. There is one form in the image that plunges almost into blackness, a stark contrast to the soft gradients elsewhere. It's like a punctuation mark, a moment of intensity that anchors the whole piece. This reminds me a little of what Moholy-Nagy was trying to do with the photogram, but Jacobi brings her own sensibility, a kind of romanticism. It’s a reminder that art is not just about what you see, but how you see it, and how you feel it.