unofficial blog for course ART007

Lehigh University
Art Architecture and Design
113 Research Drive
Building C
Bethlehem, PA 18015

Amanda E, Uelsmann/Taylor

Jerry & Maggie

Jerry Uelsmann – Small Woods Where I Met Myself, 1967 

Jerry Uelsmann is an American photographer whose work in darkroom effects foreshadowed the use of Adobe Photoshop to make surrealistic images in the late 20th century, a process led by his now-ex-wife, Maggie Taylor. The process that they use to create their surreal photographs is the most unique process of photography that I personally have ever seen. They chose to make art, not for others but as Jerry said, “My goal is to amaze myself,” which is an aspect of art that I have always had the utmost respect for. Uelsmann produces composite photographs with multiple negatives and extensive darkroom work. He has a large archive of negatives that he has shot over the years which he continues to use. His process begins after a day of shooting when he returns home to draft hundreds of proof sheets that he rearranges in various ways. He then brings the options into his darkroom where he sets his pieces into enlargers and moves the photo paper progressively down the line, building up an image. The negatives that Uelsmann uses are known to reappear within his work, acting as a focal point in one work, and background as another. Uelsmann does not seek to create narratives, but rather “allegorical surrealist imagery of the unfathomable.”

Leave a Reply