Floris M. Neusüss

Floris M. Neusüss was a pioneering German experimental photographer renowned for his mastery of the photogram, a cameraless photographic technique in which objects are placed directly on light-sensitive paper and exposed to light, producing shadowed impressions without a lens or camera. Born in Lennep, Germany in 1937, Neusüss studied at the Werkkunstschule in Wuppertal and later at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Berlin, before completing his training in Munich. His lifelong fascination with the photogram placed him in a lineage that includes early avant-garde pioneers such as Man Ray and László Moholy-Nagy, yet Neusüss developed a distinctly corporeal and phenomenological approach to the medium that set his work apart. Neusüss is perhaps best known for his monumental 'Nudogramme' series, in which he used his own body, and the bodies of collaborators, as the photographic subject, pressing them directly onto oversized photosensitive paper to create life-sized silhouettes. These works engage deeply with themes of presence and absence, the trace of the human body, and the ontological nature of photographic indexicality. He also produced the celebrated 'Traumbilder' (Dream Images) series and collaborated extensively with art historian and curator Renate Heyne, who became his long-term creative partner. Together they authored significant scholarly texts on the history and theory of the photogram, contributing enormously to the critical literature surrounding cameraless photography. Throughout his career, Neusüss served as a professor at the Kunsthochschule Kassel (University of Art and Design, Kassel), where he taught photography and influenced generations of students. His work has been exhibited internationally in major museums and institutions, and his photograms are held in significant public and private collections across Europe and North America. He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in post-war experimental photography, having elevated the photogram from a technical curiosity to a serious artistic and philosophical medium with lasting cultural significance.