First biography of Jerry N. Uelsmann, pioneer of inner landscape
photomontage
American photographer Jerry N. Uelsmann (1934-2022) was a seminal figure
in photo history. Uelsmann catalyzed the transfer from modernist to
post-modern photography with his at the time controversial photo
montages and double exposures. Decades before the birth of digital image
editing programs like Photoshop, Uelsmann created photo montages by
combining several negatives in the darkroom. He started to create his
surreal, spiritual, and thought-provoking images in the late 1950s and
continued to produce them, completely analog, throughout his life.
This first biography, written by Swedish photography historian Moa
Petersén who was a close friend of Uelsmann's, addresses his role as
disruptor of the traditional straight photography paradigm and the
historical context that shaped him. Several of the included images are
published here for the first time.