E X P L O R I N G T H E 5 0 – Y E A R C A R E E R O F P H O T O G R A P H E R Jerry Uelsmann,

T H E M I N D ’S EY E traces the growth of one of the 20th century’s unique

artistic minds. The images range from rarely seen documentary

photos of the 1950s to the complex photomontages that challenged

the very notion of what a photograph could be.

THE MIND’S EYE > PHOTOGRAPHS BY JERRY UELSMANN

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The photomontages of Jerry N. Uelsmann are as instantly recognizable as any photographic images made in

thesecondhalfof the20th century. Today theystandasgerminal, theprogenitorsofanapproach tophotographic image-makingso

JERRY UELSMANN: PRIMA FACIE

well-established and widespread that it’s strange to recall (and, for a younger

audience,nodoubtdifficulttoimagine)thestormofcontroversythatragedaround

themastheyfirstbeganappearingintheearly1960s.

WhenUelsmannbeganworkinginthisformofphotography

almostfivedecadesago,thecontextinwhichhelaboredwasdiametricallyopposite

tothatinwhichhefunctionstoday.Partlyduetohisconsistentanddetermined

efforts—aspractitioner,astheorist,asteacher,aspubliclecturer,andgenerally

asexemplar—theworkingdefinitionofwhatconstitutesthefullfieldofideasand

strategies in contemporary photography is a far more expansive one than that

whichwasoperativewhenhesetoutonhispath. >

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1. True, authentic, or adequate at first sight; ostensible.

2. Evident without proof or reasoning; obvious.

A D J E C T I V E :

At first sight; before closer inspection.

A D V E R B :

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Dispute has always swirled around this practice. Photomontage first attracted widespread attention in the

mid-nineteenthcenturythroughthedirectorial,literaryworkofHenryPeachRobinsonandO.G.Rejlander,whosetechniquesandresults

concerningthepredictabilityandliteralnessofthephotograph.Thisheightensawarenessoftheimagery’sartificiality,evokingadifferent

setofquestionsinregardtoitspurpose.

Unlike photocollage, with which it’s sometimes confused,

photomontageisgeneratedonphotographicpaperorfilmandoftenlooks—atleast

atfirstglance—likeunmanipulatedimagery.AsUelsmann’soeuvredemonstrates,

evenwhenthecombinatorialnatureofthefinishedworkisrecognizeditmayoffer

littleorno indicationofwhereonecomponentendsandanotherbegins.Those

who employ it deliberately propose a radical alternative to the naturalism that

has been the stock-in-trade of photography since its inception. Photomontage

providesunsettlingevidencethat,paradoxically,althoughthecameramustalways

address something in front of the lens, some photographs portray events that

neverhappened.

Thesearenotdocumentsofanysinglemomentofexternal

“reality.”Theirpurposeisnottodeludetheviewerintothepermanentconvictionthat

theworldreallylookedthatway.Instead,theycontradicttheviewer’sassumptions

were the subject of heatedandeven violent debateamongphotographersand

critics.Vernacularphotography—postcardimageryandportraitureinparticular—

popularizedit.Inthe1920sitbecameastapleofmodernistpracticeinEurope,even

entering thephotographycurriculumdevised for theBauhausbyLászlóMoholy-

Nagy,whocalledit“simultaneousseeingbymeansoftransparentsuperimposition.”

ButmodernistsintheU.S.repudiatedit,andthephoto-historicalestablishmentin

theStates,sharingtheirbiases,virtuallybanisheditfromthescene.

Yet even when photomontage fell into disfavor, it refused

todie.BeforeUelsmannandothersofhisgenerationbeganexploringthissetof

practices,suchNorthAmericanexperimentersasBarbaraMorgan,EdmundTeske,

ClarenceJohnLaughlin,andValTelbergwerepursuingthem.However,intheU.S.

photosceneafterWorldWarII,the“purist”approachadvocatedbysuchfigures

asEdwardWeston,AnselAdams,andtheWestCoastschoolwasdominant.They

preachedwhatAdamscalled“pre-visualization”—thefullrealizationoftheimage

at themomentofexposure;by their lights,anysubsequent tamperingwith the

dataonthenegativewasanathema. >

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hisopinionprovedtheviabilityofphotomontageasacontemporaryimage-makingstrategy,alongwithatheoryandateachingmethodology

togowithit.

Uelsmann—goadedintohisinquirybyhismentoratIndiana

University,thelatephotographer,educator,andtheoristHenryHolmesSmith—set

outtodemonstratethattherewasanotherway.Inthelate1950sandearly1960s

(during and after his graduate studies underSmith) Uelsmann devoted a great

dealofstudy,experiment,andenergytorevivingtheprocesseshefoundrelevant

to his vision. Compiling and using an image bank of negatives from which he

coulddrawspecificcomponents,heevolvedanindiosyncraticmethodology.Inthis

approachtopraxis,thedarkroombecamealocusforwhatUelsmannreferstoas

“in-processdiscovery.”

Eventually,hedevelopedhisprintmakingskillstothepoint

wherehecouldblendanynumberofthosecomponentsseamlesslyintoonefinal

image.(Eschewingtheexpedientofthecopynegative,whichmanyphotomonteurs

employasalabor-savingdevice,hecontinuestomakeeachgelatin-silverprintof

anygivenimagebyreassemblingthecomponentnegativesandstartingfromthe

beginning.)Bythemiddle1960she’dproducedabodyofworkthatinhisopinion

Then he took the step—rare in photography, though not uncommon in the other creative media—of issuing an

articulate,cogentmanifesto-cum-credo,explaininginbroadtermswhathewasdoing,whyhewasdoingit,andwhyhecontinuedtocall

himself a photographer.Publishing in1967apositionpaper that describedhis

contrary methodology as “post-visualization,” this seemingly mild-mannered

Detroitnativethrewdownhisgauntlet.InthewordsofcuratorandhistorianPeter

Bunnell,thischallenge—andthewayinwhichUelsmannhasrisentoitsdemands

asapicture-makerovertheyears—canappropriately“beseentohavealteredthe

language,thesubstance,andthedirectionof[themediumitself].”

Fromthebeginning,Uelsmannhaselaboratedasometimes

obliquelyandsometimesdirectlyautobiographicaldream-world.Thismicrocosm

partakesofthesurreal,initsnon-oranti-literalevocationofdreams,fantasies,

visions,andhallucinations,aswellasintherecurrentsymbolofthehand,akey

elementinclassicsurrealistphotography.Italsoisimbuedwithstrongelementsof

thegrotesque,inthatterm’straditionalart-historicalmeaning.Grotesquemotifs

throughouthis imagery includebizarreapparitionsofdisembodiedhumanparts,

themergingofhumanbeingswithvariousnaturalobjects,andtheblendingand

intertwiningofotheranimal,mineralandvegetableforms.>

community in the 1960s are now appearing in the mass media, in relation to the increasing prominence of electronically generated

compositeimages.

It seems to beUelsmann’s fate to haveestablisheddarkroom-generated photomontageas legitimateand viable

withinclassicphotographicpracticebybringingittoitspinnacleofvirtuosicexpression,onlytowitnesstheobsolescingofthatpracticein

Yet these images resist easy categorization: to label

Uelsmann a surrealist, a pantheist, a mythologist, or a diarist is to disregard

other,equallysignificantaspectsofhiswork.Whatseemsinarguableisthat,in

additiontoprovingthevalidityofhisapproachbyproducing imagerythatat its

best is unsettling, enchanting, magical, and oddly melancholy, Uelsmann has

demonstratedaremarkableconsistencyofvision.Againandagaininhisimagery,

alonelyandoftenshadowymalefigure(astand-inrepresentingthephotographer)

searchesconvoluted,mysterious,multi-dimensionalscapespervasivelyanimated

bytheFeminine,seekingcontactwiththeOther.Fundamentally,he’sawanderer

throughinnerspace,alyricpoetusinganewlanguagetorecounthisadventures.

And part of the pleasure of engaging with Uelsmann’s photographs is that the

danceofsymbolsthereinneverseemstheory-driven,intellectualized,orotherwise

forced,butemerges,unpremeditated,throughplayandexperiment.

Due to theomnipresenceofdigital imagingsystems today,

darkroom-based photomontage as a craft can already be considered archaic.

(Indeed, the Rochester Institute of Technology, where Uelsmann studied the

mediumasanundergraduate,willbegintoteachgelatin-silverprintingitselfasan

“alternativeprocess”inthefallof2008).Ironically,versionsofthedisputesthat

tookplaceoverUelsmann’searlyimagerywithinthemicrocosmofthephotography

itsentiretybytheonslaughtofelectronicimaging.Inthatsense,heconstitutesa

terminus.Butwecanalsoviewhimasaspringboard:inbuildingawideinternational

audience for his own imagery and encouraging his colleagues in their parallel

experiments,hehelpedpreparethatreceptivesoilinwhichcomputer-generated

imageryhasnowtakenroot.

Yet,aslongashe’spermittedtopursuehisowninclinations,

hedoesn’tappeartoregretthatculturaltransition.Thiswasneveramanspoiling

forafightoverwhatwasorwasnotpermissibleincreativephotography,merely

someonewhosevisioncarriedhimintoone.Still, it’ssafetosaythatnofuture

studyofthehistoryofphotomontagewillbeconsideredseriouslyunlessittakes

thetheory,thepractice,theteaching,and—mostimportantlyofall—theimagery

ofJerryUelsmannintoaccount.

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© Copyright 2008 by A. D. Coleman. All rights reserved. By permission of the author and Image/World

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