In 1979, Helmar Lerski's photographic legacy came to the Museum Folkwang in Essen. The museum presented the exhibition «Helmar Lerski, Photographer, Photographs and Films 1910 to 1947» from December 19, 1982, to January 25, 1983. This exhibition was subsequently shown in Tel Aviv, Munich, Frankfurt, and San Francisco. A catalog was published simultaneously. The Museum Folkwang holds the copyright to Helmar Lerski's works, and the collection can be viewed online (enter the name Helmar Lerski).
In 2015, the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaisme in Paris acquired over 400 glass negatives and paper prints by the artist that had been left behind in Tel Aviv in 1948. The museum subsequently held an exhibition and published the book "«Helmar Lerski, pionier de la lumière». This collection can also be viewed online (enter the name Helmar Lerski).
It was only after Lerski's death in 1956 that his «major work,» the photographs of «Metamorphosis Through Light,» were published and celebrated in various books! This publication focuses on a small selection of Helmar Lerski's photographs with portraits of Jews and Arabs from the unique series of over 500 pictures, as well as photos from reportages he shot in the 1930s. If you would like to share suggestions and information about Helmar Lerski and his work with us:
info@helmar-lerski.ch
Raymond Naef and Gaby Schmuklerski