Jew from Poland

Helmar (Helmut) Lerski

1931–1935

Close-up photograph of man's face. He has no expression and is looking to his right.
Lerski’s portrait of a young Polish Jewish immigrant to Palestine is in his distinctive, expressionist style. Using mirrors and reflectors to emphasize the transformative powers of light, Lerski liked to portray his subjects with their faces glistening with sweat, suggesting the Zionist ideal of the physically fit and hard-working “new” Jew. It was also an aesthetic choice because of the way that sweaty faces reflect light.

Credits

Copyright Estate, Helmar Lerski, Museum Folkwang, Essen

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 8.

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Creator Bio

Helmar (Helmut) Lerski

1871–1956

Among the most important innovators in twentieth-century photography, Helmar Lerski was born in Strasbourg as Israel Schmuklerski, the son of immigrants from Poland. He grew up in Zurich but in 1893 sailed to the United States, where he joined a German-speaking theater troupe (and changed his name). He did not take up photography until 1910, when he was thirty-nine. In 1915, he moved to Berlin, where he worked as a cameraman and a lighting technician on expressionist films. In the late 1920s he returned to portrait photography in the expressionist style, which he continued to pursue after settling in Tel Aviv in 1931. In 1948, he returned to Zurich.

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