Celebrated University of Florida (UF) Graduate Research Professor Emeritus Jerry N. Uelsmann was honored at the 13th Annual Lucie Awards held at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Oct. 27, 2015. Uelsmann was the 2015 honoree in the Achievement in Fine Arts category for the annual awards that celebrate the outstanding achievements of the international photography community, recognizing those whose life's work deserves the highest acclaim.
Uelsmann taught at UF from 1960 to 1998, helping to establish a creative photography program, one of the first fine art photography programs in the United States now housed under the College of the Arts’ School of Art + Art History. The college honored him in 2012 with an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts (DFA) degree.
“I believe in photography in all its forms, and it has become my way of relating to the world and to myself,” said Uelsmann.
Uelsmann’s influence on the University of Florida is evident through his legacy at the College of the Arts and University Galleries as well as at the Harn Museum of Art, which features his work prominently in its collection.
“Jerry Uelsmann has a distinguished national and international career in photography,” said Lucinda Lavelli, dean of UF’s College of the Arts. “His work has touched the lives of students, colleagues and arts audiences across the world. The recognition of the Lucie Award for Achievement in Fine Arts accurately honors his legendary career of accomplishments.”
Born in Detroit on June 11, 1934, Uelsmann received his B.F.A. degree at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1957 and his M.S. and M.F.A. at Indiana University in 1960. He became a Graduate Research Professor of Art at UF in 1974, and is now retired from teaching. He lives in Gainesville, Florida.
Uelsmann received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1967 and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1972. He is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, a founding member of The Society of Photographic Education and a former trustee of the Friends of Photography. Uelsmann’s work has been exhibited in more than 100 individual shows in the United States and abroad over the past 30 years. His photographs are in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Chicago Art Institute, the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Bibliotheque National in Paris, the National Museum of American Art in Washington, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the National Gallery of Canada, the National Gallery of Australia, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the National Galleries of Scotland, the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, and the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto.
To learn more about the life and work of Uelsmann, visit www.uelsmann.net. To learn more about the Lucie Foundation and this year’s other honorees, visit www.luciefoundation.org.
Current Exhibitions & Panel Discussion
Uelsmann’s work is currently featured in the Harn’s exhibition NEXUS: Experimental Photography in Florida, on display until Nov. 29, 2015, as well as University Gallery’s UG at 50: Class of (circa) ’65 exhibition, which features the work of Mernet Larsen and Robert Fichter, both students of Uelsmann’s. UG at 50: Class of (circa) ’65 is on view until Dec. 4, 2015, with an opening reception taking place this Friday, November 6 from 7-9 p.m. in University Gallery.
Uelsmann and other NEXUS photographers will participate in a panel discussion this Sunday, November 8 at 2:30 p.m. at the Harn Museum of Art. The discussion, which will be followed by book signings with the artists, will center around these photographers who made history by insisting on photography's ability to reflect an internal world as powerfully as documenting the external world.
To learn more about the University Gallery exhibition, visit www.arts.ufl.edu/galleries. To learn more about the Harn Museum of Art exhibition and panel discussion, visit www.harn.ufl.edu.
About the College of the Arts
The College of the Arts is one of the 16 colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. The College of the Arts offers baccalaureate, master’s and Ph.D. degree programs in its three institutionally-accredited schools — the School of Art + Art History, School of Music and School of Theatre + Dance. The college is home to the Center for Arts in Medicine, Center for Arts and Public Policy, Center for World Arts, Digital Worlds Institute, University Galleries and the New World School of the Arts in Miami. More than 100 faculty members and approximately than 1,200 students work together daily to engage, inspire and create. The college hosts more than 300 performances, exhibitions and events each year. Faculty and students also exhibit and perform at other local, national and international venues. To learn more, visit www.arts.ufl.edu.
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