Self-Portrait

Bayer used the expressive armoury of Surrealism for the photomontage. Reality, symbolised by the body reproduced with photographic precision, merges with the dreamworld, where a mirror does not simply reflect the image of an excerpt of reality, but literally makes it possible to experience the dissolution processes first-hand. Back in reality, this provides an occasion to recognise or question the self. 

Literature:
Hartmann, Udo: “The Eye of Herbert Bayer” in: Fiedler, Jeannine (Ed.): Photography at the Bauhaus, Berlin 1990, pg. 64 – 74.