Hannah Hoch, John Heartfield, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Man Ray, and David Hockney were experimental photographers who used traditional techniques to create abstract and conceptual works. Hoch created photomontages exploring concepts of beauty, race, and gender. Heartfield used anti-Nazi propaganda. Coburn developed abstract photographs using mirror systems. Man Ray created photograms or "Rayographs" by placing objects on light-sensitive paper. Hockney structured Polaroid photos to form abstract compositions. Their work would be found in galleries and textbooks rather than for commercial uses like advertising.

1. Experimental Photography
Case Studies

2. Hannah Hoch
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Hannah Hoch was a German experimental photographer who used mainly traditional
methods in creating her pieces as all her work consist of paper collages or at least
contain elements of paper collage. However, some pieces of her work include a
background image with paper collage covering parts and becoming the main focus of
the work. She became a pioneer of her art form which became known as
photomontage. Her work would most likely be found in galleries.
I would consider her work to be historical because of the major feature of the paper
collages which is a very traditional method of creating experimental photography as
the collages are very abstract and do not portray realistic and lifelike images like
photographs do.
Hoch’s work, I feel was commercial, as it was produced in response to female beauty
and fashion, when mass media was beginning to portray women and beauty. She
toyed with the idea and created works such as The Bride and Strauss.
The Bride, 1933, explores race by placing body parts of different races onto each
other to create one person, making it hard to define what race the bride actually is.
This also creates a thought that Hoch was against racism as she has created an
image that doesn’t favour any race in particular but combines them all to create a
piece of art, which is considered beauty.
Strauss, 1929, consists of many different types of eyes, all put together in an
arrangement that comes across to be a bouquet of flowers. By combining all the
different types of eyes into such an arrangement, Hoch has portrayed the eyes as
beautiful, just like flowers.

4. John Heartfield
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John Heartfield was another German experimental photographer. However, instead
of using his work to portray different types of beauty etc, Heartfield used his art as a
political weapon. His most famous pieces of work consisted of anti-Nazi campaigns
and images. His work would most likely be found in history books.
Again, just like Hoch, his work was historical and used traditional methods, such as
illustrations and ink. I think this because all of his works look like World War 2
propaganda (which it was probably classed as or inspired by) and because there was
no major digital inventions/machinery, certainly ones that could be afforded by such a
person in them times, all the images would have had to be hand produced. This then
leads me to think it would have all been produced in secrecy as if Heartfield
produced these works publicly then he would probably been killed by the Nazi’s and
his work destroyed. So with this in mind, he would have had to hand produce them in
the safety of his own home.
Adolf the Superman Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk, 1932, shows Hitler to have no
heart and a greed for money (as his spine and other insides are made of it). The title
of the artwork leads me to think that the meaning behind this piece is that in John’s
eyes, Adolf had a lot of power and he stole other people’s possessions and promoted
idea’s that were false to then gain more power and more wealth.
The Cross Was Not Yet Heavy Enough, 1933, puts the idea across that Hitler was
the one to put Jesus on the cross. However, it also suggests that he wanted him to
suffer more whilst carrying the cross, therefore, he is seen to be adding more onto
the cross to make it harder for Jesus to carry and also successfully turning it into a
Swastika.

6. Alvin Langdon Coburn
• Photographer, Alvin Langdon Coburn was a key figure in the
experimental photography. He developed some of the first
completely abstract photographs. His work was mainly
created by using a system of mirrors to get the abstract effect.
The shapes created by the mirrors create perfect straight
lines, enough to try and make sense of the shapes and
reflections. For example, one of his creations resembles the
shape of a flying bird.
• Coburn’s work would most likely be featured in photography
text books and galleries. I don’t think they’d be used on
billboards as they aren’t really anything promotional or can be
used for advertising purposes.
• I feel like his work is historical and traditional (material wise)
as it will have been taken on a film camera but it looks
contemporary and non-traditional.

8. Man Ray
• Man Ray was an American modern artist who had a
significant contribution to the Dada and Surrealism
movement. His main bit of work is with photogram’s which he
then named ‘Rayographs’ in reference to himself. These are
referred to as a ‘cameraless picture’.
• He made them by placing objects and material directly on
light sensitive paper, which he then exposed to light and
developed, achieving the end result. They look a lot like xrays, which they essentially are.
• Some of the objects he used to create the pieces are easily
identifiable, such as strips of film and human body parts.
• Again, I feel like his work would be featured in photography
text books and maybe even a few galleries but not a
billboard. Also this work will be historical and traditional as it
does not contain any digital producing, it is all done with film
and dark rooms.

10. David Hockney
• David Hockney is considered one of the most influential British artists
of the 20th centaury. His experimental photography pieces are made
up of Polaroid pictures. All the images contained are of the same
area/scene but are structured in a way to create an abstract look and
feel about the picture or makes a piece look like a digital camera has
taken a picture with a slow shutter speed.
• By using the Polaroid images he creates an extremely unique piece
of work that stands out from other pieces of work by other artists.
• The work he has created is kind of contemporary but historical at the
same time. This is because the images are printed on film but a film
that was developed a lot later on, so could be considered modern. It
is a traditional method though as all the images go together to create
one big image, no digital editing involved or anything.
• I would expect to see the work maybe on billboards as an advert (the
swimming pool one could be used for holiday adverts). I could also
see this style being shown in books and galleries.