Erró, Photographer of Carolee Schneemann's Eye Body Series

In the winter of 1963–1964, Carolee Schneemann physically entered her paintings, making her body a material in her practice and creating a 'living collage.' She decided to keep a photographic record of this unprecedented assembly. The resulting series, now famous, was shot by Erró, a young European artist then living in New York. Schneemann chose Erró because he was 'one of the few male painters who supported her work.' In an interview on December 13, 2011, Erró recalled that he had been given a Rolleiflex camera with a Schneider Kreuznach lens by his father when he left Iceland in 1952. He carried it for about thirty years, using it to photograph friends and works in progress, including the Eye Body images. Schneemann, who lived nearby on the West Side, explained her project to Erró: she would make up and transform herself in her studio. She asked him to photograph her. During the shoot, Erró captured her movements without a tripod, at 1/30th of a second. The session was professional and efficient; Schneemann was extremely assured, moved well, and knew what she was doing. No images were retouched or cropped. After development, Erró saw the series was successful and gave Schneemann the negatives, considering it her work. Later, he saw the full series at an exhibition in Vienna, having forgotten some images, especially those of her head.