Editing Cyanotype (section)

== Cyanotype in artistic practice ==

=== Artistic potential ===
The cyanotype's success as a form of artistic expression lies in its capacity for manipulation or distortion.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Fineman |first=Mia |date=October 2004 |title=Kodak and the Rise of Amateur Photography |url=http://metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kodk/hd_kodk.htm |website=The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref> It produces distinctive effects and is versatile,<ref name=":8" /> enabling prints to be made on a wide variety of surfaces,<ref name=":2" /> including paper, wood, fabric,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Ruth |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/939708802 |title=Cyanotypes on fabric: a blueprint of how to produce... blueprints! |date=2016 |publisher=SC Publications |isbn=978-0-9554647-5-1 |language=en|oclc=939708802}}</ref> glass, [[Perspex]], bone, shell and eggshell, plaster and [[ceramic]]s,<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Enfield |first=Jill |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1125310189 |title=Jill Enfield's guide to photographic alternative processes: popular historical and contemporary techniques |date=2020 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-138-22906-8 |language=en|oclc=1125310189}}</ref> and at any scale; to date 2017, the largest is 276.64 m{{sup|2}} (2977.72&nbsp;ft{{sup|2}}), created by Stefanos Tsakiris in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 18 September 2017.<ref>* {{cite news |last=Tsakiris |first=Stephanos |date=September 18, 2017 |title=Guinness world record Largest cyanotype |location=Thessaloniki |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-cyanotype-photograph/}}</ref> [[Robin Hill (American artist)|Robin Hill]] in 2001 exhibited ''Sweet Everyday'', a 30.5&nbsp;m (100&nbsp;ft) cyanotype enwrapping Lennon, Weinberg, Inc.'s [[SoHo, Manhattan|Soho]] gallery, and evoking wavy brushstrokes by placing ordinary shopping bags on photo-sensitive paper exposed to light.<ref>"Drawing Rooms:Carl Palazzolo, Denyse Thomasos, Robin Hill."''Abstract Art Online''. January 2001.</ref> For photographic negatives or positives enlargement directly onto the emulsion is not feasible due to the low sensitivity of the emulsion (except with a [[Solar camera|solar enlarger]]), so requires contact printing at 1:1 ratio. The low sensitivity permits progress to be inspected in a printing frame during exposure. Consequently and because of its long exposure scale it suits most negatives whether of high or low contrast. As a recognisably 19th century technology, artists like [[John Dugdale (photographer)|John Dugdale]] use it to evoke, or to critique, Victorian aesthetics and social constructs.<ref name=":1" />

The artist is not restricted to the reproduction of existing photographic negatives. Prints can be made of three-dimensional objects, utilising the ability of the objects to be placed on top of the photosensitive material. Once exposed to light, the final print is of an outline of an item<ref name=":0" /> with internal detail where they allow light, depending on their relative transparency and exposure, to filter through; Anna Atkins' botanical cyanotypes sharply register the more transparent segments of a petal or leaf.<ref name=":5" /> An object original, used to make a cyanotype photogram, including the human figure for example, is reproduced at actual size. [[Robert Rauschenberg]]'s and [[Susan Weil]]'s collaborative cyanotypes, including ''Untitled (Double Rauschenberg)'', {{circa|1950}}<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends |url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3634 |access-date=2020-02-12 |website=The Museum of Modern Art |language=en}}</ref>  were made by both artists lying down, hands held, on a large piece of photosensitive paper (treated with cyanotype chemicals). The resulting prints of their bodies in various poses are currently part of the [[Museum of Modern Art]]'s permanent collection.<ref name=":4" /> In France, from the end of the 1970s, [[Nancy Wilson-Pajic]] made cyanotype photograms of everything from a broken windshield to herself (Falling Angels), and eventually several long series of museum collections and of Haute-Couture robes by Christian Lacroix and other designers. The results have been shown all over the world and are in major institutions and public collections.

The blue hue naturally associates symbolically with sea or sky.<ref name=":12" /> As German photographer [[Thomas Kellner]] notes of his 1997 Cubist multi-pinhole portraits of porcelain dolls; "I am specially happy with the blue colour in this series as the blue has a different depth in the background than a black print. Blue is still infinite, whereas black usually has the character of ending."<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Kellner |first1=Thomas |last2=Turpin |first2=Anthony |date=2012 |title=Lost Memories, or Patrice's bathroom dolls (interview) |url=https://www.thomaskellner.com/artworks/portfolios/11-pinhole-camera-1993-1997-lost-memories-1997.html |access-date=2022-04-13 |website=www.thomaskellner.com |archive-date=2022-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819053101/https://www.thomaskellner.com/artworks/portfolios/11-pinhole-camera-1993-1997-lost-memories-1997.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The negative form may be disorienting or surreal;<ref name=":0" /> while white is often used to frame or highlight a central subject in many artistic media, the opposite may be true in the cyanotype, requiring the artist to adapt their ideas to the effect.<ref name=":1" />

Equally important is the expressive potential of the application of emulsion using brush, squeegee, roller or cloth, or by stamping, for [[calligraphy|calligraphic]] effect.<ref name=":0" />

The cyanotype process is quite flexible, and it can be scaled up to incredible sizes. For example, in 2017, Stefanos Tsakiris created a 276.64 square meter cyanotype in [[Thessaloniki|Thessaloniki, Greece]]. The print, which holds the world record for the largest cyanotype print, was made to help teach people about cyanotype photography and increase environmental awareness.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Video: This music video is made entirely from over 5,000 cyanotype prints |url=https://www.dpreview.com/news/2522727855/video-this-music-video-is-made-entirely-5000-cyanotype-prints |access-date=2023-11-09 |website=DPReview}}</ref>