Joachim Schmid's Photogenic Drafts

Joachim Schmid's series Photogenic Drafts divisively undermines conventional studio portraiture by amalgamating portraits of multiple sitters. The results are at once unnerving yet harmonious, producing collages that are rooted in both the traditions of Classical European painting and Russian Constructivism. As noted by an anonymous author on the Saatchi Blog:

"In 'Photogenetic Drafts' (1991) Schmid takes his exploration of the portrait, and in particular the studio portrait, a stage further. Schmid was sent a box of negatives by a Bavarian studio photographer who had deliberately cut the negatives in two so as to prevent them being used again. Initially thrown off guard by this, Schmid then realised that this gave him a chance to question the predictability of the studio portrait . He decided to splice together two halves of two different negatives, creating a series of disturbing 'double' portraits."











All photographs from the series Photogenic Drafts

All Images © Joachim Schmid