Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop

[dmerger]

Now on view at the National Gallery of Art.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/seeing-is-unbelieving/2013/02/21/a624591e-79dd-11e2-82e8-61a46c2cde3d_story.html

[David Sutton]

Can't get across the world to see this alas, but the book is a wonderful read. Informative, witty and thoroughly researched.
David

[tom b]

Jerry N Uelsmann is a master printmaker. I came across his work in Amsterdam in 1978 and was blown away with his skills in the darkroom. It should be a great exhibition…

Cheers,

[walter.sk]

Jerry N Uelsmann is a master printmaker. I came across his work in Amsterdam in 1978 and was blown away with his skills in the darkroom. It should be a great exhibition…

Saw the exhibit last month in NY at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Great exhibit, but, sadly, only a couple of Uelsmann's works.

[Patricia Sheley]

Kicking myself that I did not (I think) put it out during the summer. A wonderful exhibit and studio recreation of Jerry's work. It was running with Along the Water's Edge, an exhibit of the AA work quite unlike which most associate Ansel, largely marine in nature. There was a nice film of Jerry showing his process in the darkroom. Had not realized that the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA was doing such exhibits. Jerry's foward/backward spaghetti film was also on view...inspiring to see other's skull matter in motion.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Patricia is right. The Peabody Essex show of Uelsmann was fantastic. The "Faking it" show at the Met in NY was interesting but not that exciting. I too had been hoping for more of Uelsmann, who is a real master.

[kmpickard]

Like others here I was quite disappointed not to see more of Jerry Uelsmann's work in the "Faking It" show at the Met.

There is a recent and very good documentary on Lynda.com about both Uelsmann and his wife Maggie Taylor. His website links to it but I'm not certain that it can be viewed without subscription to the site.

It's well worth watching if it is indeed available.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Like others here I was quite disappointed not to see more of Jerry Uelsmann's work in the "Faking It" show at the Met.

There is a recent and very good documentary on Lynda.com about both Uelsmann and his wife Maggie Taylor. His website links to it but I'm not certain that it can be viewed without subscription to the site.

It's well worth watching if it is indeed available.

You can subscribe to Lynda.com for a month for something like $25, view whatever you want, and then cancel before the next month starts.

I'm prejudiced because their documentary on Uelsmann and Taylor uses one of my photographs (a portrait of Minor White), but I think it is a great documentary, and would be even without my photo.

Eric M.

[Rob C]

I'm prejudiced because their documentary on Uelsmann and Taylor uses one of my photographs (a portrait of Minor White), but I think it is a great documentary, and would be even without my photo.Eric M.

Holy mackerel, Kingfish, you're ruining your residuals!

And to think you could do this in the week of that great, statuesque gentleman, Theo Scar! I'm shattered.

Rob C

[John Camp]

I have the "Faking It" book sitting here on my desk, and the worst thing about it is the title. Many of the photographers in the show, including Uelsmann, weren't faking anything. They were manipulating their photos, but there was nothing fake, or fraudulent, or hidden in their work. The book includes both art work by people like Uelsmann, and funny manipulated photos of enormous vegetables and so on -- jokes -- but also some real fakes, like the erasure of people standing next to Stalin, after it no longer became desirable to have them in the photo. (And they were usually erased in real life, as well.) In any case, those things are all greatly different, and the publisher perhaps should have stuck with the subtitle alone: "Manipulating Photography Before Photoshop."

[Isaac]

Many of the photographers in the show... weren't faking anything. They were manipulating their photos, but...

transitive verb
1: to alter, manipulate, or treat so as to give a spuriously genuine appearance to