[Solarized Fashion Study]

Alien, yet familiar, silvered and strange, Bassman’s solarization prints could pass for trend reports from the moon. Few such photographs were published; she would finish a job but keep experimenting with the image, subjecting it to further manipulation in the darkroom. The solarization effect occurs when a print is re-exposed to light during the development process, causing a partial reversal of positive and negative tones. This method delineates dark contours, not unlike the light-tracing technique that Bassman devised a decade prior. The treatment proved well suited to early 1960s silhouettes, recasting the crisp lines of this mod ensemble as if from a futuristic remove.