Samothrace, 1964

Samothrace, smoke on glass negative, first state, 1964

This is a negative Frederick Sommer made with soot, one of his many smoke on glass negatives.  This is the first state, or first-impression, made from a small drawing on foil that Sommer had playfully placed in the stream of smoke fuming from a burning candle.  The deposit of soot combined with the relief or intaglio nature of the drawing, created tonal densities and transparencies that rivaled his silver negatives.

Samothrace, smoke on glass negative, second state, 1964<

This is the second state, or second-impression, of the same smoked foil drawing. Below, the two are positioned closely together. The original 'synthetic' negatives are housed at the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson.

"There is no difference in the accidental and what you arrange, because if I will arrange beautifully, I will arrange accidentally. Accident and art are one because art accepts what it finds and the accident, the true beautiful accident, also accepts what it finds because that is its true nature as it exists." – Frederick Sommer to Studs Terkel, March 13, 1963

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