Jerry Uelsmann & Lucas Samaras

Jerry Uelsmann

Lucas Samaras

Photography Around the 1940’s

• Popular documentation photography, such as portraits.

• Example of this is Yousuf Karsh’s many portraits of famous people.

Winston Churchill, 1941Humphrey Bogart, 1946

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• Other examples of popular documentation photography were of events such as the Vietnam War.

• Born in Detroit on June 11th, 1934.• Uelsmann received his BFA at Rochester

Institute 1957.• He began teaching photography at the

University of Florida in 1960.• He became a graduate research of art at the

University in 1974.• He is now retired from teaching and living in

Gainesville, Florida.

Jerry Uelsmann

Untitled, 1982Jerry Uelsmann

Jerry UelsmanDreamtheather, 2004

Lucas Samaras• Born in Macedonia, Greece, in 1936.• Graduated from Rutgers University in 1959

with a degree in art.• He studied a form of ‘performance art’ with

artists such as Robert Whitman, and George Segal.

• He is well known for his pioneering work in photography.

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“Photo Transformation”

The Link• Both photographers were part of a movement

going against the boundaries of traditional art. • In this time period, their photography was

very avant-garde and fresh to the public. • They were also some of the first

photographers to manipulate their photographs drastically, and take their photography to the next level.

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Yousuf Karsh, 1948 Albert Einstein

Comparison

Self Portrait, 1973Lucas Samaras

• Lucas Samaras’ goal in his photography was essentially to distinguish the similarities between the human figure and objects.

• Samaras does a great deal of “self investigation” or self exposure.

• Through this self exposure came his “photo transformations” which he believed created an abstraction of form and color.

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“Exposing myself, visually or psychologically exposing through art, or some kind of artifice or control or device like art, it was done in a professional way. Others object, but if it is done professionally, it will get the job done.”

- Samaras

“Photo Transformations”Lucas Samaras

• Samaras wanted to take something people would find insulting and turn it into a virtue.

• He wanted to be, along with his artwork, unpredictable; rather shocking.

Lucas SamarasUntitled 1965

• Uelsmann on the other hand focused on creativity, created a “reality that transcends surface reality”.

• His goal was to create a dream-like world, passing the limits of traditional photography and discovering a surreal world beyond reality.

“A camera is truly a license to explore. There are no uninteresting things. There are just uninterested people. For me to walk around the block where I live could take five minutes. But when I have a camera, it could take five hours. You just engage in the world differently.” - Uelsmann

Jerry Uelsmann“The Dreary Room”

Influences• Samaras and Uelsmann were both

influenced by the Dada / Surrealism movement.

• Artists such as Man Ray and Salvador Dali played important roles in both photographers artwork.

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Jerry Uelsmann

Salvador Dali“Galatea of the Spheres”

“Persistence of Memory”