Armed with a scanner and a laptop, many artists create composite photographic images in just a few hours using Adobe Photoshop. But the acknowledged pioneer and master innovator of photomontage is Jerry Uelsmann.For more than fifty years, Uelsmann has relied exclusively on analog tools, crafting images by integrating multiple negatives and processing effects. His explorations of ""the alchemy of the darkroom"" have resulted in a unique, transformational style that continues to influence, inspire, and fascinate artists, photographers, and museum audiences across the world.Uelsmann's work defies easy interpretation even as it engages the imagination. This retrospective features the largest number of Uelsmann images ever collected in a single volume, and some never-before reproduced. Drawn from his entire career, they show both the evolution of his technique and the solidity of his vision. An accompanying essay by Carol McCusker, curator of photography at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, provides historical and biographical context and discusses Uelsmann’s formative experiences and his coming of age as a photographer.
