Skip to main content

Jerry Uelsmann Photography

American, b. 1934

Jerry N. Uelsmann is an American photographer, and was the forerunner of photomontage in the 20th century in America.

Uelsmann was born in Detroit, Michigan. While attending public schools, at the age of fourteen, there sparked an interest in photography. He believed that through photography he could exist outside of himself, to live in a world captured through the lens. Despite poor grades, he managed to land a few jobs, primarily photographs of models.

Eventually Uelsmann went on to earn a BA from the Rochester Institute of Technology and M.S. and M.F.A. degrees from Indiana University. He began teaching photography at the University of Florida in 1960. In 1967, Uelsmann had his first solo exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, which opened doors for his photography career.

Uelsmann is a master printer, producing composite photographs with multiple negatives and extensive darkroom work. He uses up to a dozen enlargers at a time to produce his final images, and has a large archive of negatives that he has shot over the years. The negatives that Uelsmann uses are known to reappear within his work, acting as a focal point in one work, and background as another. Similar in technique to Oscar Rejlander, Uelsmann is a champion of the idea that the final image need not be tied to a single negative, but may be composed of many.

During the mid-twentieth century, when photography was still being defined, Uelsmann didn't care about the boundaries given by the Photo Secessionists or other realists at the time, he simply wished to share with the viewer the images from his imagination and saw photomontage as the means by which to do so. Unlike Rejlander, though, he does not seek to create narratives, but rather "allegorical Surrealist imagery of the unfathomable."

Uelsmann is able to subsist on grants and teaching salary, rather than commercial work. Today, with the advent of digital cameras and Photoshop, photographers are able to create a work somewhat resembling Uelsmann's in less than a day; however, at the time Uelsmann was considered to have almost "magical skill" with his completely analog tools. At the time Uelsmann's work first came to popular attention, photos were still widely regarded as unfalsifiable documentary evidence of events. However, Uelsmann, along with Lucas Samaras, was considered an avant garde shatterer of this popular mindset and help to expand the artistic boundaries of photography.

“I am sympathetic to the current digital revolution and excited by the visual options created by the computer. However, I feel my creative process remains intrinsically linked to the alchemy of the darkroom,” Uelsmann has said.

Today Uelsmann is retired from teaching and currently lives in Gainesville, Florida with his third wife, Maggie Taylor. But to this day, he still produces photos, sometimes creating more than a hundred in a single year. Out of these images, he likes to sit back and select the ten he likes the most, which is not an easy process.

Find original Jerry Uelsmann photography on 1stDibs.

to
1
7
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
18
1
2
1
5
2
7
5
5
4
4
4
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
20
1
1
21
10,721
2,823
2,495
1,414
21
Artist: Jerry Uelsmann
Texas Fantasy No 2

Texas Fantasy No 2

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel, CA

A true unique Uelsmann. A wonderful addition to the collector.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Yosemite, Eye Door
Yosemite, Eye Door

Yosemite, Eye Door

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel, CA

Hand printed by artist Signed in pen on verso Untitled 1995 Mint Condition

Category

1990s Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled I 1980
Untitled I 1980

Untitled I 1980

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled (Philosopher's Desk)

Untitled (Philosopher's Desk)

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes as they are subject to change - available as a 11 x 14 or 16 x 20 inch gelatin silver prints. All works are open e...

Category

20th Century Surrealist Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled 1977

Untitled 1977

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled II 1980

Untitled II 1980

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled 2001

Untitled 2001

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Eye Chair 1969

Eye Chair 1969

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Home is a Memory 1963

Home is a Memory 1963

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Homage to Duchamp 2000

Homage to Duchamp 2000

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Temple and Sphere 1980

Temple and Sphere 1980

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Improbable Assignation 2002

Improbable Assignation 2002

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Undiscovered Self

Undiscovered Self

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Made in the darkroom by Jerry Uelsmann using up to seven enlarger. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes as our inventory is subject to change.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Floating Rock

Jerry UelsmannFloating Rock

Price Upon Request

Floating Rock

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled 1982

Untitled 1982

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Made in the darkroom by Jerry Uelsmann using up to seven enlarger. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes as our inventory is subject to change.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Rock Tree

Jerry UelsmannRock Tree

Price Upon Request

Rock Tree

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Dream Moment 1977

Dream Moment 1977

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Small Woods Where I Met Myself  1967

Small Woods Where I Met Myself 1967

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Apocalypse II

Jerry UelsmannApocalypse II

Price Upon Request

Apocalypse II

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed and dated on the front of the print.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Poet's House

Jerry UelsmannPoet's House

Price Upon Request

Poet's House

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Made in the darkroom by Jerry Uelsmann using up to seven enlarger. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes as our inventory is subject to change.

Category

1990s Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Related Items
Heart 02
Heart 02

Kim HoltermandHeart 02

$625

H 39.5 in W 32.9 in

Heart 02

By Kim Holtermand

Located in New York, NY

ABOUT THIS PIECE: Danish photographer Kim Høltermand photographed the Herning Art Museum in Jutland, Denmark. He is known for his moody, quiet photos that show public spaces before t...

Category

2010s Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Heart 04
Heart 04

Kim HoltermandHeart 04

$625

H 39.5 in W 32.9 in

Heart 04

By Kim Holtermand

Located in New York, NY

ABOUT THIS PIECE: Danish photographer Kim Høltermand photographed the Herning Art Museum in Jutland, Denmark. He is known for his moody, quiet photos that show public spaces before t...

Category

2010s Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Ted Higby at Skyline Rodeo, 1928
Ted Higby at Skyline Rodeo, 1928

Ted Higby at Skyline Rodeo, 1928

Located in New York, NY

Listing includes framing with UV plexiglas, free shipping and a 14 day return policy. Ted Higby at Skyline Rodeo, 1928 15 x 12 inch gelatin silver print Image Size: 14 x 8.5 inches Frame size: 22.5 x 17.5 x 2 inches Edition of 15 Lora Webb Nichols was born in 1883 and grew up in the small mining town of Encampment, Wyoming. At the age of 16 Lora received her first camera and from that moment and for the next few decades she produced work that is both stunning in its singular voice and revealing in the world it opens up for us. At first Nichols photographed her family, friends, and the landscape around Encampment, but when the town experienced a copper mining boom Nichols expanded her scope to become a photographer for hire shooting portraits and industrial photographs. When the boom collapsed, Nichols took the risk of opening her own business in Encampment - The Rocky Mountain Studio - which opened in 1925. The studio ran for ten years, accumulating 24,000 negatives that illustrate the lives and environment of the people living in and around the town while creating a distinctive and surprising body of work. If one was to attempt an analogy – Nichols’ pictures fit somewhere between Lartigue and Lange - joyful and generous while objectively intimate. In particular what seems to distinguish Nichols’ work is the way she sees the world from a female perspective. As Vince Aletti...

Category

1920s Other Art Style Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Cilento, Italy

Cilento, Italy

By Pentti Sammallahti

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Pentti Sammallahti Cilento, Italy 1999 Gelatin Silver print

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Rapids Below Vernal Fall, Yosemite, CA
Rapids Below Vernal Fall, Yosemite, CA

Rapids Below Vernal Fall, Yosemite, CA

By Ansel Adams

Located in Pacific Grove, CA

This vintage silver gelatin contact print is signed in pencil on the front of the mount, with Portfolio One stamp and numbering in red crayon on the back of the mount. This print com...

Category

1940s Modern Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Liz Hurley - Celebrity Photography Print (Limited Edition of 25) -- 20 x 24 In.
Liz Hurley - Celebrity Photography Print (Limited Edition of 25) -- 20 x 24 In.

Liz Hurley - Celebrity Photography Print (Limited Edition of 25) -- 20 x 24 In.

Located in New York, NY

Elizabeth Hurley photographed by British celebrity and fashion photographer John Stoddart. This risqué iconic black and white photograph expresses her incredible figure, capturing the actress completely naked, against the head of a large Grecian bust...

Category

1990s Young British Artists (YBA) Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Jane March (Limited Edition of 25) - 20x24 In. - Celebrity Photography
Jane March (Limited Edition of 25) - 20x24 In. - Celebrity Photography

Jane March (Limited Edition of 25) - 20x24 In. - Celebrity Photography

Located in New York, NY

This fine art print features actress and model Jane March, posed topless on the rooftop of the Hotel Le Bristol in Paris in 1992. This risqué iconic black and white photograph was sh...

Category

1990s Contemporary Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Fern Spring, Dusk, Yosemite
Fern Spring, Dusk, Yosemite

Fern Spring, Dusk, Yosemite

By Ansel Adams

Located in Pacific Grove, CA

This silver gelatin print with exemplary provenance is unsigned but bears several stamps from the artist's family on the back of the mount, including the authentication stamp of Adam...

Category

1960s Modern Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Nude Paris Willy Ronis 20th Century French Humanist photography black and white
Nude Paris Willy Ronis 20th Century French Humanist photography black and white

Nude Paris Willy Ronis 20th Century French Humanist photography black and white

By Willy Ronis

Located in Paris, FR

Willy Ronis is one of the most famous members of the French Humanist photography. Silver print on photographic paper Hand-signed by the artist lower right Stamp of the artist's stud...

Category

1990s Contemporary Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

The Hair Willy Ronis Humanist black and white photography woman naked nude
The Hair Willy Ronis Humanist black and white photography woman naked nude

The Hair Willy Ronis Humanist black and white photography woman naked nude

By Willy Ronis

Located in Paris, FR

Willy Ronis is one of the most famous members of the French Humanist photography. Silver print on photographic paper Hand-signed by the artist lower right Stamp of the artist's stud...

Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

"Surface" Black & White Photography 32 x 47 in Ed. of 15 by Yevgeniy Repiashenko
"Surface" Black & White Photography 32 x 47 in Ed. of 15 by Yevgeniy Repiashenko

"Surface" Black & White Photography 32 x 47 in Ed. of 15 by Yevgeniy Repiashenko

By Yevgeniy Repiashenko

Located in Culver City, CA

"Surface" Black & White Photography 32 x 47 in Ed. of 15 by Yevgeniy Repiashenko Year photo was taken: 2013 This artwork is an archival pigment print, offered as a limited editi...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment

Previously Available Items
Philosopher’s Desk

Philosopher’s Desk

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed by the artist. Original gelatin silver print.

Category

Late 20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Boat and Sphere

Boat and Sphere

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed by the artist. Darker non vintage print. Original gelatin silver print.

Category

Late 20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

A set of 8 Prints by Jerry Uelsmann Surreal Figurative Photography 1970 Framed
A set of 8 Prints by Jerry Uelsmann Surreal Figurative Photography 1970 Framed

A set of 8 Prints by Jerry Uelsmann Surreal Figurative Photography 1970 Framed

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Buffalo, NY

A set of 8 lithographs by surreal photographer Jerry Uelsman. Each image of various sizes is framed and matted to fit a 16" x 20" archival black frame presentation, which can be arr...

Category

1970s Surrealist Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Lithograph

UNTITLED (Illustrated in 1982, 25 Year Retrospective Catalog - included)
UNTITLED (Illustrated in 1982, 25 Year Retrospective Catalog - included)

UNTITLED (Illustrated in 1982, 25 Year Retrospective Catalog - included)

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Santa Monica, CA

JERRY UELSMANN (b. 1934 -) UNTITLED 1976 Photograph mounted on card stock as issued. Initialed J. N. U. and dated in pencil lower right. Si...

Category

1970s Surrealist Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Boat and Sphere 1982

Boat and Sphere 1982

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Made in the darkroom by Jerry Uelsmann using up to seven enlarger. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes as our inventory is subject to change.

Category

20th Century Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled 2003

Untitled 2003

By Jerry Uelsmann

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.

Category

Jerry Uelsmann Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Jerry Uelsmann photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Jerry Uelsmann photography available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Jerry Uelsmann in silver gelatin print, paper, photographic paper and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Jerry Uelsmann photography, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Bill Owens, Cody S. Brothers, and Charles Lindsay. Jerry Uelsmann photography prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $6,000 and tops out at $10,000, while the average work can sell for $6,000.