[Cut-paper abstraction]

In the 1920s, the creative conditions for photography were ripe with possibilities. Technical difficulties were alleviated by new hand-held cameras and more responsive negatives, and photographers no longer aimed to make photos that resembled paintings. Instead, in this “Machine Era,” many artists embraced the inherent characteristics of the medium. Bruguière’s cut-paper photographs evolved out of experiments using light to create abstract photographic forms. In this image, the cutout is photographed in strong, directional light, making its elaborate and graceful curves appear in the photograph as a complex intertwining of brightness and shadow.