At the Margins of Photography

This publication focuses on cameraless photography in the 19th century. Through concrete case studies beginning with William Henry Fox Talbots photogenic drawings of 1834/35 contact prints of lace and plants on photosensitive surfaces the time frame of the publication spans from scientific-aesthetic recording methods, to the photogram as a didactic medium, up to its amateur artistic consequences around 1900. In compendia on the history of photography, the cameraless medium is positioned at the mar- gins of photography and therefore was and still is discussed as precursor of photography. Central to this is the question of why there is a history of photography, but no history of the photogram. Invented around 1839, the photogram technique is said to be forgotten soon afterwards due to its limited applications. Only in the framework of the artistic avant-garde renewed interest came up. In between, so it seems, there is a gap, or a time without any involvement of the photogram. The present publication argues that the reason why photograms were neither reflected nor deemed worthy of collecting for a long time and thus settled on the edge of photography is to be found in the historical concept of photography, which begins with the implementation of a camera obscura. In addition, the exclusion or the marginal position of women as producers of numerous cameraless photographs in histories of photography can be determined. Technically as well as art-historically oriented historiographies of photography moved art- historical categories and "male" coded "masterpieces" into the foreground. With the help of gender studies, however, objectifying master narratives can be broken up and "blind spots" of photographic historiography can be made visible. With the help of numerous case studies, the publications aim is to point out the addition of the camera to the history of photography as a retrospective entry into the field of the "photographic" a term by Rosalind Krauss that allows to rewrite and rethink photography beyond camera photography. In this respect, the present work investigates the historically verifiable marginalization of the photogram in the 19th century by means of a historiographic, semiotic and structural analysis of its specific mediality, its scientific as well as artistic qualities. The focus lies on the role of tactility and impression in comparison to photography, as well as a gender-specific positioning of the medium photogram based on motivic and formal references. In addition, the study focuses on the concept of "autopoiesis", which will be discussed in terms of its economic, biologistic and natural-philosophical roots. The present publication highlights the historical relevance of this hitherto neglected medium and realizes a media history of the photogram that has not yet been written.