Metamorphosis 527, from the series: Metamorphosis Through Light, 1936

About the Work

Helmar Lerski photographed the face of the construction engineer Leo Uschatz in a series of 140 closeups. Working in the blazing sun on a roof terrace in Tel Aviv, he achieved his dramaturgical lighting effects with up to sixteen mirrors and flags that helped him vary the intensity of the shadows. Having fled the National Socialists, the photographer and cameraman thus continued the studies in portrait photography he had begun in Berlin. He had already published his photo book Everyday Heads, containing closeup shots of anonymous persons, in 1931. Presented as impenetrable surfaces of mask-like rigidity, their faces speak of the conflict between emotionality and ideality.