Type 42 (Anonymous)

  • Margaret Blye, 1960s - 1970s, mixed media on polaroid, 8.3 x 10.8 cm
  • Suzie Kaye, 1960s - 1970s, mixed media on polaroid, 8.3 x 10.8 cm
  • Camilla Sparv, 1960s-1970s, mixed media on polaroid, 8.3 x 10.8 cm
  • untitled, 1960s - 1970s, mixed media on polaroid, 8.3 x 10.8 cm
  • Florence La Rue, 1960s - 1970s, mixed media on polaroid, 8.3 x 10.8 cm
  • Yvette Mimieux, 1960s - 1970s, mixed media on polaroid, 8.3 x 10.8 cm
  • Hawall Five-O, 1960s - 1970s, mixed media on polaroid, 8.3 x 10.8 cm
  • Jo Ann Harris, 1960s - 1970s, mixed media on polaroid, 8.3 x 10.8 cm
  • Star Trek, 1960s-1970s, mixed media on polaroid, 8.3 x 10.8 cm
  • What's Up, Tiger Lily?, 1960 - 1970, mixed media on polaroid, 8.3 x 10.8 cm
  • Denise Nicholas, 1960s - 1970s, mixed media on polaroi, 8.3 x 10.8 cm
  • Catherina von Schell, 1960s - 1970s, mixed media on polaroid, 8.3 x 10.8 cm

The entire body of work was found in New York in the spring of 2012. The archive had been kept intact despite its multiple changing hands over the years prior to its discovery. The attempt to trace back the origin of the photographs remained without success.

The body of work is comprised of approximately 950 polaroids in total. All but a handful are inscribed: in most cases the name of the actress is written across the bottom of the photograph; in some cases the title of the film or TV series she appears in is written across the top of the photograph; and in a few cases both sets of information are written on top and bottom accordingly. There are also 31 photographs were the artist has written the women's measurements across the top along with her name across the bottom.

The photographs primarily present distorted, slightly blurry, occasionally pixelated and floating headshots of actresses as they appeared on TV against dark backgrounds. Additionally there are photographs where whole bodies are presented in ambiguous scenes. There is a strong emphasis on the science fiction movie or b-movie genre for those photographs with movie titles. In some of the photographs the constructs of the actual TV can be seen as a framing device, but for the most part the TV's borders are absent from the picture - one of the many remarkable aesthetics of this collection.

These photographs were taken approximately between 1969 and 1972. Further research would be necessary to pinpoint the exact time period. As far as can be evaluated, these photographs were taken without the aid of any recording equipment as this time period pre-dates the general publics access to the earliest technologies in video recording.The survey of the archive shows that the photographer went to great lengths to capture specific poses and moments within these televised shows and movies. The viewer can only guess the number of "takes" that must have cycled through to get each final shot.

The name "Type 42" refers to the film stock used in this anonymous body of work. It is a Polaroid film that came on the market in 1955 and was discontinued in the 1992.