[Self-Portrait at Typewriter, Prellerstrasse Studio]

Oskar Schlemmer

1925

Gelatin silver print

J. Paul Getty Museum

This multiple exposure self-portrait of Oscar Schlemmer as a spectral presence in his studio creates a puzzle of numerous layers. His transparent body is much too large to sit at the typewriter before him, although he appears ready to push his chair forward to get to work. As the different exposures blend, stacks of paper and a frame on the desk behind him become the pattern of his vest. Two white-cuffed hands seem to hold up the cabinets in the upper left corner, yet the way in which the corner of the cabinet is visible through the right hand indicates that the hands represent another, separate exposure from those of the studio and