“The knickers and stockings are literally ‘worn’ by the plates. The fronts are the holographic lace and nylon and the backs are the shadows cast on the emulsion by the laser. It is a simple and wonderful illusion that exploits some of the overlooked aspects of the medium.”
—Susan Gamble

A pioneer in the use of holography as art, Susan Gamble (b.1957) creates mesmerising holograms that showcase the medium’s distinctive spectral colours, moiré patterns and illusion of three-dimensionality in unprecedented ways. To create the one-of-a-kind diptych, offered here, Gamble ‘dressed’ each 8x10 photographic glass plate with lingerie and then exposed it to a laser to record imprints of the garments directly onto the plate. Due to this analogue, cameraless process, whereby each hologram is a single exposure, the resulting works that form the Body in Question series are each unique and show variations. The artist explains: ‘A hologram has a very fine resolution and dynamic range. I chose these very delicate and feminine subjects to explore this aspect; the sharp and brilliant definition of the materials – lace and nylon – are seen in silhouette against a brilliant interference of sunset colours.’ Gamble’s 1982 holograms of lace and nylon hark back to William Henry Fox Talbot’s 19th-century lace experiments from photography’s first decade. Requiring illumination from the rear, these transmission holograms are best displayed on a plinth.

Together with Michael Wenyon, her creative partner since 1983, Gamble was named UNESCO laureate in 1993 for aesthetic development in technology. The artist duo has exhibited internationally and their works reside in such prominent institutions as the V&A, London; the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Boston Athenæum; and the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC.

Exhibition install of Towards A Bigger Picture at the V&A, London, 1988.

Susan Gamble aligns optical components for the Body in Question series of holograms in 1982. The laser is housed in the box in the top left and the white screen in the bottom left is a diffuser.
- Exhibited
  The Holography Show, Holograms by Artists from Goldsmiths' Holography Workshop, Orchard Gallery, Derry, 1 - 23 October 1982; Ulster Museum, Belfast; Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff; Wolverhampton Art Gallery; Spectro Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Stoke-on-Trent City Museum & Art Gallery; Aberystwyth Arts Centre and the Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Birkenhead, 1983, another
  Towards A Bigger Picture: Contemporary British Photographs, V&A, London, 30 November 1988 - 15 January 1989; Tate Liverpool, 14 February - 1 March 1989, another
- Literature
  S. Gamble & M. Wenyon, The Holography Show, Exhibition Catalogue, London: Goldsmiths' Holography Workshop, 1982, n.p.
  M. Barnes et al., Cameraless Photography, London: Thames & Hudson, 2018, pp. 106-107

ULTIMATE

56

Susan Gamble

Knickers & Stockings from Body in Question

1982
Unique transmission hologram diptych.
Each image: 19 x 24.4 cm (7 1/2 x 9 5/8 in.)
Each plate: 20.3 x 25.4 cm (8 x 10 in.)
Each frame: 29.7 x 35.5 cm (11 3/4 x 13 7/8 in.)
Each plate engraved with initials and date in artist’s acrylic frame; signed in ink, printed title and date on a Certificate of Authenticity accompanying the work.

This is one of four unique diptychs of the same subjects. One is held in the collection of the V&A, London, and the others are held privately.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£8,000 - 12,000

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