Spiraling Coil

1930s

Not on view

Trained as a sculptor, designer, and architectural draftsman, Kessels began making photographs in the mid-1920s. He first achieved recognition as a photographer with his inclusion in the First Photography International at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, in 1932. Kessels used the photogram process to create an abstract photographic image without a camera by placing objects directly onto photosensitized paper. While the resulting spiraling forms suggest the gears and chains of the machine age, the image also reflects the artistic investigation of pure form and celebrates the new, technologically mediated vision made possible by the photographic arts.

Artwork Details

Title: Spiraling Coil
Artist: Willy Kessels (Belgian, 1898–1974)
Date: 1930s
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: 29.0 x 22.6 cm (11 7/16 x 8 7/8 in.)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987
Object Number: 1987.1100.324
Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Curatorial Department: Photographs

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