Valentin Gertsman (1926-2013) was a Russian-American surgeon and fine-arts photographer who made his reputation producing abstract and poetic images of Houston’s modern architecture. He has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in Europe and the United States and his work is in the permanent collections of many European and American institutions, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), the Menil Collection, and the Cincinnati Art Museum, among others. He published three books of his photography and was the subject of many articles in the popular press.

In 2017 the University of Houston Libraries acquired Gertsman’s photographic archives and a large selection of his prints. Among the materials in his archives is a group of approximately 380 signed and numbered photographs known as “artist’s proofs.” These photographs, chosen and set aside by Gertsman himself, appear to be the photographer’s definitive statement of his art — what he considered his best work.

The original materials are available in UH Libraries' Special Collections in the Valentin Gertsman Papers and Photographs.