No. 26: The Eternal Eye

Grete Stern was commissioned to create the Dreams photomontages as photographic illustrations for a weekly column, “Psychoanalysis Will Help You,” in Idilio (Idyll), a pioneering Argentinian women’s magazine. Its readers submitted written descriptions of their dreams which were analyzed by two male intellectuals and illustrated by Stern. While incorporating some suggestions from two men, Stern often subverted their interpretations, substituting her own proto-feminist reactions to the dream narratives.

A square-oriented gelatin silver photomontage features a large human eye filling the upper half, looking forward against a light background. Below, seven human hands of various sizes reach upward from a dark, jagged landscape that spans the lower half. This black-and-white image has a high-contrast quality, emphasizing textures in skin and cratered terrain, with all elements having a sharp, grainy, and defined appearance.

No. 26: The Eternal Eye

c. 1951, printed probably 1970s

Grete Stern

(German, 1904–1999)

Argentina

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