Helmar Lerski’s project, Metamorphosis through Light (German: Verwandlungen durch Licht), created in Tel Aviv in 1935, is an exploration of the transformative power of light in photography. At this stage in his career, Lerski, having recently emigrated to Palestine, was already renowned for his contributions to portrait photography and his expertise in lighting and special effects in silent cinema. This series reflects Lerski’s deep engagement with the artistic and philosophical currents of the Weimar avant-garde, as well as his response to the sociopolitical upheavals of the time, including the rise of National Socialism and his search for identity in a new cultural landscape.
Conceived as a meditation on the mutability of the human face and the interplay of identity and perception, the project features 175 close-up black-and-white portraits of a single subject, Leo Uschatz. By employing dramatic and meticulously controlled lighting, Lerski transformed Uschatz’s face into a canvas for a multitude of characters and expressions, ranging from heroic to introspective, noble to vulnerable. This approach challenges the notion of photography as a medium of objective representation, instead positioning it as a creative and interpretive art form. Lerski’s philosophy—that "in every human being there is everything; the question is only what the light falls on"—is vividly realized in this series, where the human face becomes a projection surface for infinite potential identities.
Technically, Metamorphosis through Light demonstrates Lerski’s innovative approach to photographic experimentation, particularly in his use of mirrors and natural sunlight to sculpt light and shadow. With a large-format camera and a system of mirrors and reflectors, Lerski directed natural sunlight on a Tel Aviv rooftop, sculpting his subject's face with intricate patterns of light and shadow. The resulting gelatin silver prints capture a diverse range of tonalities, emphasizing the sculptural quality of the human visage.
The project’s context further enriches its significance. Created during Lerski’s exile from Nazi Germany, the series can be interpreted as a counterstatement to the racial typologies promoted by fascist ideologies. By demonstrating the fluidity and universality of human identity, Lerski subverted the essentialist and reductive representations prevalent in contemporary political and social discourse.
Debuting in Jerusalem and Vienna in 1936, the series was next presented in London at the Academy Cinema as a multi-week slide program of transparencies (1937-1938). Its afterlife has been sustained by major retrospectives and collection displays, including a postwar revival at Museum Folkwang (1982), a focused survey at Fotostiftung Schweiz (2005), and the Albertina’s Faces (2021). Works from the series are held by the Albertina, Vienna, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York (Thomas Walther Collection), with subsequent publications supporting ongoing scholarship.
