Lot 47: DR. DAIN L. TASKER 1872-1964

'LOTUS - AN X-RAY'

measurements note
11 1/4 by 9 1/4 in. (28.5 by 23.4 cm.)

mounted, signed, titled, and dated by the photographer in pencil on the mount, the photographer's 'Route 1, Box 201, Whaley Street, Oceanside, California' studio label inscribed with a street number by the photographer in pencil on the reverse, matted, 1935 (Tasker, back cover and unpaginated, variant)

NOTE

Dr. Tasker, chief radiologist at Wilshire Hospital in Los Angeles, began to experiment with making X-ray photographs of flowers when a colleague showed him an X-ray that he had made of an amaryllis. First experimenting with calla lilies, Tasker says that his initial efforts did not turn out particularly well due to his lack of knowledge of photographic composition. After turning to photographer Will Connell for advice, his next efforts were more successful.

In an article titled 'X-ray Goes Pictorial' in the March 1942 issue of Popular Photography, Dr. Tasker discussed his then ten-year-old hobby. He maintained that the process was not particularly difficult, but required patience above all.

Regarding the lotus blossom, he wrote, 'The lotus is a particularly beautiful flower, but there is a little trick in X-raying it. To get the full radial design which is so effective in a composition, it is necessary to...set it flat on the film...workable only when the flower is completely open. It is never at its widest after noon, and there are few times when it doesn't show signs of movement. One needs very still subjects for X-ray photography because of the long exposures required' (p. 78).