photogram

American  

[foh-tuh-gram] / ˈfoʊ təˌgræm /

noun

1. a silhouette photograph made by placing an object directly on sensitized paper and exposing it to light.

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photogram British  

/ ˈfəʊtəˌɡræm /

noun

1. a picture, usually abstract, produced on a photographic material without the use of a camera, as by placing an object on the material and exposing to light

2. obsolete a photograph, often of the more artistic kind rather than a mechanical record

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Etymology

Origin of photogram

First recorded in 1855–60; photo- + -gram ¹

Example Sentences

She also collected dust and dirt swept up while at home for almost three months under covid restrictions, printing one pile of debris each day as a near-abstract photogram.

From Washington Post • Jun. 30, 2021

She was old and infirm and had retired to a house in Provence by the time she went back to photography, adding floral photogram borders to her early portraits of Surrealist friends and peers.

From The New Yorker • May 21, 2019

For one photogram, he made a digital tea-strainer.

From Economist • Sep. 27, 2017

And, of course, there's resonance with the history of the photogram itself, especially its efflorescence among early modernists.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2017

There were no windows, so to give an illusion of light and space one wall was covered in a huge photogram showing a tropical beach, with bright blue sky and white sand and coconut palms.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman