Lot 713 D

In contrast to the classical photogram in which the light body of that depicted stands out against the impenetrable black of the background, the figures captured here appear as dark schemata on a light ground, an effect which Neusüss reached by the use of reverse paper. Neusüss knows to enhance the impression of movement, elicited by the blurring and double contours of the couple seemingly in ecstatic dance, by combining the technique of the photogram here with the manual treatment of the paper surface: In a generous, dynamically gestural sweep, he applies developer and fixer fluid with sponges and rags, so intensifying the dynamism of the representation. Such works were inspired by the artistic environment in which Neusüss moved during his time in Vienna in 1963/64, i.e., the artistic circle around the Galerie Nächst St. Stephan, the centre of the Austrian Informel. The influence of the painting of Arnulf Rainer or Josef Mikl is clearly evident in the present photogram which originally came from the collection of Monsignor Otto Mauer, the founder of the Galerie Nächst St. Stephan.