Jerry Uelsmann
- Years active: Late 1960s-currently
- Current Age: 83
- My favorite work of his was made during the anti-war movement, JFK, Lyndon Johnson, war in Vietnam, fight for civil rights for minorities, counterculture (“hippies”, “free love”, nonconformists), Woodstock, and riots since 1964
- Began teaching photography in 1960
- Photographer Henry Holmes Smith was Uelsmann’s teacher in 1957 at Indiana University (IU) and he had a great influence on his work. At the time, photography still wasn’t considered to be an artform. He considered Smith, along with other teachers, Ralph Hattersley and Minor White, to be his primary influences.
- He was influenced by surrealism, specifically René Magritte, Max Ernst and Man Ray, who he was introduced to at IU.
- He first became interested in photography in high school and started experimenting with singular mode photography in the 1950s. It wasn’t until he graduated IU in 1960 that his experimentation took off.
- “ I have a great fondness for the ’60s. I was influenced more in terms of the broader culture at the time, and the positive support and attitude toward the arts from colleagues at the university.” http://www.bandwmag.com/articles/jerry-uelsmann-on-the-fringes-of-understanding
- “My creative process remains intrinsically linked to the alchemy of the darkroom. Basically, I’ve been in the darkroom for 60 years, and although I see the incredible options digital provides, the bottom line is [that] the technique has to fit with the ideas and images. All my work is on film, and the darkroom has been the environment in which I create my work. If I was 20 years younger I would work digitally, but I love the ambience of the darkroom and the fluidity of my working process.” http://www.bandwmag.com/articles/jerry-uelsmann-on-the-fringes-of-understanding
- “Assembling images in the darkroom further enhances his creative process because he considers creative photography an experimental form of art which gives him the freedom to express his artistic vision on life and of not having to complete a photo at the camera. He photographs different objects specifically for use in his darkroom. He typically shoots various things on light box in order to create a white background and objects on black velvet so as to assemble the negatives later in his darkroom.” http://famous-photographers.com/jerry-uelsmann/
Jerry Uelsmann's Work:
Quest of Continual Becoming, 1965
Apocalypse II, 1967
Navigation Without Numbers, 1971
Uelsmann's Influences:
Henry Holmes Smith:
Refraction Print from Portfolio II: The Work of Henry Holmes Smith, produced and published by the Center for Photographic Studies, 1973.
Untitled Refraction Print - 1950
Refraction Print from Portfolio II: The Work of Henry Holmes Smith, produced and published by the Center for Photographic Studies, 1973.
Max Ernst:
The Antipope, Max Ernst, December 1941–March 1942, Oil on canvas, 63 1/4 x 50 inches (160.8 x 127.1 cm)
Forest and Sun, Max Ernst, 1927, Oil on canvas, 66 x 82.5 cm (26 x 32 1/2 in.)
