
"A woman's face was exquisitely metamorphosed with the cup of a yellow tulip - a Femme - Fleur Picasso might have perpetrated had he taken to photography."
Arts Revue.
One of his top award winning pictures was titled 'Spirit of Spring', this was the first ever picture taken on Kodachrome (transparency film) that included both a negative of a tulip and a positive image of a girl's portrait, all on the same emulsion!
No one knew at the time, how this could be possible as it was created well before anyone had the use of computers.
'Spirit of Spring' won The London Salon Trophy in 1967; this was then the first time a colour picture was deemed worthy of this much-coveted trophy, for it had only ever been awarded before for Black and White studies. John was also the youngest member to have won it.
There have been over 20 One-Man Exhibitions of John N. Cohen's photography (many were sponsored by Kodak) at major venues; 2 were held in New York, 4 in London, The Edinburgh Festival and many other UK & USA Cities.
This technique is pure photography on film and has nothing to do with moving lights to make light graffiti, or of lighting specific parts of a dark scene with a long exposure. What it does involve is the photographing of projected images on to other things.
The following is an excerpt from the introduction to John Neville Cohen's free publication 'The Magic Lantern' describing his own unique technique of 'Painting with Light' by Sir George F. Pollock Bt., M.A., F.R.P.S., F.R.S.A.
Light! That narrow band in the energy spectrum, without which all life on earth would perish!
As Lord Kenneth Clark reminds us "From Dante to Goethe, all the greatest exponents of civilisation have been obsessed with light." This obsession is no stranger to photographers.
Indeed, since the photographic image is made by the action of light, truth to light is truth to the medium of photography! All John Cohen's photographs are made, simply and solely, by the use of light. His magic is the magic of the luminous, his poetry is that of the chiaroscuro.
The attractions of his work is all the greater for the purity of the photographic technique, and its appeal all the more universal for being couched in an imagery common to all men and intelligible to all.
Keywords
Tagged as:
art photography, fantasy, kodachrome, painting with light, photography, spirit of spring
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