Green Lizard (Grüne Eidechse)

Maker Josef Maria Eder (Austrian, 1855 - 1944)

Maker Edward Valenta (Austrian, 1857 - 1937)

Date1896

MediumPhotogravure print from an x-ray negative

DimensionsImage: 3 11/16 × 6 1/4 in. (9.4 × 15.9 cm)
Sheet: 4 7/8 × 7 3/8 in. (12.4 × 18.7 cm)
Mounting: 13 3/8 × 19 1/4 in. (34 × 48.9 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Estate of Lester and Betty Guttman

Collections

Object number2014.290

Status

Not on view

Description

Website Text

The Dutch-German physicist Willhelm Röntgen discovered the X-ray in 1895, and this new type of image sparked immediate fascination among the public. Less than a month later, Viennese chemists Josef Maria Eder and Eduard Valenta produced a portfolio of X-ray photographs of human body parts and small animals, including this image of a green lizard. Here, the lizard’s bones are black instead of white, because the image is a print from an X-ray, as opposed to an X-ray itself. The corresponding X-ray was used as a negative image for the print, causing the colors to reverse. Eder and Valenta’s portfolio was one of the earliest to show people the inner workings of bodies, and it also indicated the potential for aesthetic delight in scientific photographs.