The Polaroid Project

Polaroid is magic. Within minutes and as if by magic, the photo you just took will appear. The attractively illustrated volume, based on over 300 works by internationally renowned artists from the unique Polaroid Collection, shows how artists appropriated this technique, how they experimented with it and discovered new ways of design. In 1943, Edwin Land was asked by his little daughter why she cannot immediately see a photo that has just been taken. An hour later, the American researcher and inventor had developed the technical basis to realize this seemingly impossible wish. Thus began the history of Polaroid instant photography. Many artists soon recognized the exciting new possibilities: For example, when Hockney created a still life mosaic from individual photos, Charles Eames captured geometric patterns, Dennis Hopper carried out color studies in LA, Robert Mapplethorpe took nude self-portraits. Thousands of Polaroid photographs from the hands of artists shaped the art world in the late 20th century.
With works by Ansel Adams, Nobuyoshi Araki, Sybille Bergemann, Brigid Berlin, Anne and Bernhard Blume, Chuck Close, Walker Evans, Federico Fellini, Arno Fischer, Gisèle Freund, Gottfried Helnwein, David Hockney, Dennis Hopper, André Kertesz, Robert Mapplethorpe, Robert Rauschenberg, Gus Van Sant, Andy Warhol.