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Approaching the Shadow

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Retrospective collection of the artist/photographer's lifework. Limited Edition of 2000 copies. An elegant production by Chris Pichler: Regular-sized volume format. Handsome pale gray silk cloth boards with dark gray titles embossed on cover and spine, as issued. Black-and-white photographic reproduction pasted on the cover's recessed center. Photographs and Preface by Jerry Uelsmann. Essay, "Book of Revelations", by Bill Jay. Printed on Japanese semi-glossy stock paper to the very highest standards: The crispness, warmth and rich tonal details of each photograph have to be seen to be believed. Without DJ, as issued. Presents some of the artist/photographer's finest and most representative images, taken over a forty-year period. A student of Minor White, Jerry Uelsmann's lifelong fascination with creating images that are dark and disturbing yet mystical and awe-inspiring began when he was asked to photograph doorways of "ominous portent". Uelsmann personally selected these potent, dream-like images, each of which is a metaphor for "those dark and evocative images that emerge from just beyond the threshold of conscious understanding". Most of them have never been published. As a collection, they offer new insight to Uelsmann's vision. The only other American artist/photographer who has embarked on a similar journey is Arthur Tress, and it is a tribute to both artists that despite a shared Surrealist vocabulary, their works are quite different from each other in striking ways. Bill Jay's Reminiscence/Essay vividly recalls the great stir Uelsmann's images created when they were introduced in the United Kingdom in the late 1960's. "Many of these images are enigmatic and provocative. Over the years, they have continued to engage me in a poetic, meditative and mysterious dialogue. They are an important part of my visual quest" (Jerry Uelsmann). © 2006, ModernRare.com