Born: 1871, 18 February - France, Strasbourg Died: 1956, 29 November - Switzerland, Zurich Gender: Male Active: US / Germany
Swiss photographer, filmmaker and actor. Started as a banker and then became an actor. He took up photography when he was 39 and his striking portrait style, using a harsh and at time unflattering light, was well respected. He was involved in special effects for the film industry working on masterpieces like Fritz Lang's Metropolis and he was cinematographer on over 40 films. At the Film und Foto (FiFo) exhibition in Stuttgart in 1929 his photographs were well represented with 15 showing. He saw the potential of using sophisticated lighting for portraits and his 1931 book Köpfe des Alltags took ordinary people and through the use of titles gave them roles - he was demonstrated that the viewers perception of a person could be radically influenced by the lighting and title.
In his "Metamorphosis through light" series he pushed this idea to the extreme by taking over 140 close-up portraits of a single person, Leo Uschatz, using as many as 16 mirrors and a number of filters. The result was a study in the variations of a single person through photography and a clear demonstration that the lens does not have to be objective. Attempts to publish "Metamorphosis through light" failed during his lifetime and it was only in 1982 that it was published.
Genealogy of Helmar Lerski
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