A photogram is a picture made on photographic paper without the
aid of a camera. To make this one, Man Ray exposed the paper to
light at least three times. Each time a different set of objects
acted as a stencil: a pair of hands, a pair of heads kissing,
and two darkroom trays, which seem almost to kiss each other
with their corner spouts. With each exposure, the paper darkened
where it was not masked. "It is impossible to say which planes
of the picture are to be interpreted as existing closer or
deeper in space. The picture is a visual invention: an image
without a real-life model to which we can compare it," notes
curator John Szarkowski. A Surrealist might have said, instead,
that it discloses a reality all the more precious because it is
otherwise invisible. Man Ray claimed to have invented the
photogram not long after he emigrated from New York to Paris in
1921. Although, in fact, the practice had existed since the
earliest days of photography, he was justified in the artistic
sense, for in his hands th