There can hardly be another name in the international history of photography whose work has been so frequently misunderstood and so controversially evaluated as that of Helmar Lerski. In every human being there is everything; the question is only what the light falls on." Guided by this conviction, Lerski took portraits that did not primarily strive for likeness but which left scope for the viewer's imagination, thus laying himself open to the criticism of betraying the veracity of the photographic image. http://www.fotostiftung.ch/en/exhibitions/past/helmar-lerski-metamorphoses-of-the-face/ Helmar Lerski (18 Feb. 1871, Strasbourg-19 Sept. 1956, Zürich) was a photographer who laid some of the important foundations of modern photography. His works are on display in the USA, Germany, Israel and Switzerland. He focused mainly on portraits and the technique of photography with mirrors.... In 1932, he emigrated with his second wife to Palestine, where he continued to work as a photographer, cameraman, and film director. On 22 March 1948, they left Palestine and settled again in Zurich. (Wikipedia) Helmar Lerski’s tightly cropped photographic portraits have an unusual patina that most resembles the look of sculptural bronze. His close-up, full frame faces and hands are lit with a mixture of natural, artificial, and reflected light, creating unlikely shines, shadows and highlights that appear almost buffed and etched. While Lerski’s subjects come from a variety of ethnic and cultural groups and backgrounds (taken in systematic series), each deadpan sitter has been transformed into a kind of heroic historical figure by the intense attention paid to his or her facial features. Often the faces are seen in angled profile or looking away, and a few of the subjects return again and again, the repetition enabling a multi-image mapping exercise of the weathered topography of a... Continued at: https://collectordaily.com/helmar-lerski-transformations-through-light-ubu/ undefined

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