These exquisite photogravures are from one of the first series of X-rays ever produced, taken by Josef Maria Eder and Eduard Valenta in 1986, both Austrians.
The portfolio, simply titled Experiments in X-ray Photography (Versuche über Photographie mittelst der Röntgen'schen Strahlen [Experiments in X-ray Photography]), contains a total of fifteen images: a mix of positives and negatives, including, in addition to skeletal forms of animals and human limbs, X-rays of carved cameos and an assortment of diverse materials such as metal, wood, glass, and flesh.
If the images are remarkable today, they must have been even more so when they were first published, only a few weeks after Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen published his discovery of X-rays with his groundbreaking article "On a New Kind of Rays."
The impact of the invention was revolutionary, not only medically but also aesthetically. As the Met comments: "The careful compositions and unsettling appearance of these 'Experiments in Photography' connect them to the tradition of natural history illustration of the previous century and hark back to the experiments of the New Vision photographers of the 1910s and 1920s."
Product features
- Choice of Natural or black pinewood frames
- Printed on 250 g/m² photo paper with Matte finish
- Protective acrylic glass and ready-to-hang hardware included
- Vibrant, high-resolution prints using modern printing techniques
