Yves Tanguy (French, 1900 - 1955).

Photomaton self-portrait, circa 1928.

“When the Photomaton arrived on the Champs Élysées in Paris in 1928 it provided the perfect vehicle to make this celebral happening a visual reality. This fascinating machine, invented by Anabol Josepho in 1925, produced an automatic strip of images without the intervention of an operator. Fuelled by photographic chemicals, it spat out a silver gelatin stream of images to the eagerly waiting sitter and provided almost instantaneous results.”