Catalog of a Collection of Photographs by Gérard Allon in the Judaica Collection of the Harvard library

P E R S O NA L S TAT E M E N T
Dispute over Photonic Representation
G É R A R D A L LO N
Jerusalem, Spring 2009
In front of the Bezalel Academy of Fine Arts in Jerusalem and in
front of a crowd of students and teachers, a dispute over photonic
representations began. Taking part in the dispute were a holographer,
a portraitist, and a photojournalist.
Following a brief introduction of the protagonists, the Academy’s
president let the dispute range freely.
Below we report some excerpts from a discussion that continued
through the night on the heights of Mount Scopus.
The Portraitist
The true greatness of the photographic image comes from its ability to
faithfully reproduce the forms of the real. This is best expressed in the
portrait. What does it matter if the final image is three-dimensional?
Looking at a daguerreotype means coming into contact with the soul
of the person who was in front of the silver plate. This image is not a
graphic reconstruction of the features of a face, but rather, to the contrary,
it is its luminous imprint. This is true for all types of photographic
portraits but it is clear that in the case of the daguerreotype it
is as if we are facing the mirror that saw the person represented. The
photons assumed each one of its features before being reflected onto
the sensitive plate while bearing within them a portion of the soul that
every face knows how to reveal.
The photo-sensitive object is sacralized by the impression that will forever
mark it.
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