• Photomaton, Luis Buñuel, c. 1929

    In 1928 the first Photomaton arrived in Paris. Patented by Anatol Josepho in 1925, the automatic machine produced a unique strip of photographs without the intervention of a human operator. The device quickly became a fascination for the Surrealists, who embraced chance, automation and new forms of image-making. This rare Photomaton portrait of Luis Buñuel was made during the period in which he was closely associated with the Surrealist movement and coincides with the release of Un Chien Andalou (1929), his landmark collaboration with Salvador Dalí. Produced on one of the first Photomaton machines installed on Boulevard Haussmann, the work belongs to an important moment in the history of both photography and the Parisian avant-garde.