John P. Jacob

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
John Jacob

John P. Jacob (born 1957) is an American curator. He grew up in

Collegiate School (1975) in New York City, and studied at the University of Chicago before earning a BA in human ecology from the College of the Atlantic (1981) and an MA in art history from Indiana University
(1994).

Mailart and photography

PostHype v3 n1, 1984
The Howling Mad Mail, 1985
I'm Trying to See, 1988

John Jacob began his career as an artist, working with reproductive media including

artist's books. During the 1980s, he taught classes on color Xerox and the rubber stamp as a print-making medium, at Pratt Manhattan, with mail-artist Ed Plunkett, and founded the Riding Beggar Press ("If wishes were horses...") to promote his and other artists' work.[1] His first sale, of a sheet of artists' stamps for $75, was from an exhibition curated by Buster Cleveland for the 13th Hour Gallery[2]
(NY, 1984).

Jacob's efforts during this period include the irregular mail-art magazine

Soviet Bloc countries of Eastern Europe,[3][4][5] the final issue of PostHype (4.1) documented a mail- and phone-art project entitled East/West: Mail Art & Censorship.[6] In 1987, in a self-proclaimed withdrawal from mail-art, Jacob published The Coffee Table Book of Mail Art: The Intimate Letters of J.P. Jacob.[7] With an advertisement declaring "Each copy contains a valuable original artwork by a famous mailartist!!" Jacob gave away original works to recipients of the publication until his collection was exhausted. Jacob continued to exhibit as a photographer through the 1980s, presenting his last one-person exhibition, entitled I'm Trying to See, at the Liget Galeria, Budapest, in 1988.[8] He occasionally exhibited under the pseudonym Janos Jaczkó after that.[9]

Eastern Europe and USSR

Recollecting a Culture: Photography and the Evolution of a Socialist Aesthetic in East Germany, 1999.

Since the mid-1980s, Jacob has worked with artists in Eastern Europe and the former

Jerzy Kosinski contributed an introductory statement to the exhibition Out of Eastern Europe: Private Photography (1987), describing the work presented as "the penultimate art of spiritual confrontation".[10] Jacob's exhibition The Missing Picture: Alternative Contemporary Photography in the Soviet Union (1990) was the first one-person exhibition of Ukrainian photographer Boris Mikhailov
in the US, accompanied by a parallel exhibition of works by four young Soviet photographers inspired by him.

Recollecting a Culture: Photography and the Evolution of a Socialist Aesthetic in

Art Journal, critically examined the impact of Western attention, including his own, on the art of post-Perestroika Russia.[13]

Career and research

Diane Arbus: A box of ten photographs, 2019.
Trevor Paglen: Sites Unseen, 2019.

Jacob has been an arts administrator since the 1990s. He became director of exhibitions for the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University in 1992, and was named executive director in 1993. Jacob's exhibitions for the PRC include There is No Eye, a retrospective of photographer/musician John Cohen (2002),[14][15] and Facing Death: Portraits from Cambodia’s Killing Fields (with Robert E. Seydel , 1997).[16] Other exhibitions Jacob curated for the PRC explored the intersections of photography with dance and music,[17][18][19][20] including the first presentation of photographs by Lou Reed.[21][22]

In 2003, Jacob was named founding director of the

Beinecke Library at Yale University and a collection of her master prints by the Yale University Art Gallery. From 2011 to 2015, he served as Program Director for the Magnum Foundation's Legacy Program, and as contributing editor for Esopus (magazine) re-created early Magnum distributions, in a series entitled "Analog Recovery," from the vast Magnum archive. He is presently McEvoy Family Curator for Photography at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Among Jacob's exhibitions for SAAM, the Art Newspaper ranked Diane Arbus: A box of ten photographs the first most visited photography exhibition and the ninth most visited art exhibition worldwide for 2019, with 1,677,000 attendees; and it ranked Trevor Paglen: Sites Unseen the thirteenth most visited art exhibition, with 1,132,800 attendees.[23][24]

Jacob is married to Noriko Fuku, professor and director of the Art Communication Research Center at the

PhotoEspaña photography festival, Madrid.[26] The exhibition traveled throughout Europe and to the National Museums of Japan in Tokyo and Osaka.[27]

Jacob's papers and the archive of the Riding Beggar Press are held by the Beinecke Library at Yale University.

Selected exhibitions

  • James Presley Ball and Robert S. Duncanson: An African American Artistic Collaboration. Co-curator with Eleanor Harvey and Jill Rothschild. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., 2023.
  • Carrie Mae Weems: Looking Forward, Looking Back. Co-curator with Saisha Grayson. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., 2023.
  • Welcome Home: A Portrait of East Baltimore, 1975–1980, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., 2021.
  • New on View:
    William H. Johnson
    .     Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., 2020.
  • Trevor Paglen: Sites Unseen. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., 2018.
  • Diane Arbus: A box of ten photographs. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., 2018.
  • Harlem Heroes: Photographs by Carl Van Vechten. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., 2016.
  • No Mountains in the Way: Photographs from the Kansas Documentary Survey, 1974. Coordinator for Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., 2016.
  • Willie Alexander: Wallworks. Co-curator with Noriko Fuku. Esopus Space, New York, 2012.
  • Erich Hartmann: New York Stories, 1946–57. Co-curator with Anna Patricia Kahn. Amerika Haus, Munich, Germany, 2012.
  • Inge Morath: First Color. Magnum Photos Gallery, Paris, France, 2009.
  • Well Disposed and Trying to See: Inge Morath & Arthur Miller in China. University of Michigan Art Museum, Ann Arbor, 2008.
  • Man Ray: Unconcerned But Not Indifferent. Co-curator with Noriko Fuku. European Tour: PHotoESPAÑA / Museo ICO, Madrid, Spain, traveled 2007–2009. Japanese Tour: New National Art Centre, Tokyo, traveled 2010–2012.
  • Eye in the World / The World in Me: Photographs by Peter Granser, Laura McPhee, Selina Ou, and Kiriko Shirobayashi. Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China, 2006.
  • Chinese Encounters: Words and Photographs by Inge Morath & Arthur Miller. Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China, 2005.
  • The Road to Reno: Photographs by Inge Morath. Chicago Cultural Center, 2005 Traveled 2005–09.
  • There is No Eye: Photographs by John Cohen. Photographic Resource Center, Boston, 2002.
  • Recollecting a Culture: Photography and the Evolution of East German Socialism. Selections from the FotoKino Archives, 1947–1990. Photographic Resource Center, Boston, 1999.
  • Patti Smith & Friends, Drawings by Patti Smith, Polaroids by Oliver Ray, and Photographs by Michael Stipe. Co-curator with Noriko Fuku. Museum Eki, Kyoto, Japan, 1999.
  • Facing Death: Portraits from Cambodia’s Killing Fields. Co-curator with Robert E. Seydel. Photographic Resource Center, Boston, 1997.
  • Chimæra: Aktuelle Photokunst aus Mitteleuropa. Co- curator with T.O. Immisch. Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg, Halle, Germany, 1997.
  • Extended Play: Photographs, Video, Fashion Design, and Works on Paper by Musicians (Willie Alexander, Laurie Anderson, Peter Blegvad, John Cohen, Kevin Coyne, Chris Cutler, Kim Gordon, Mike Gordon, Tony Levin, Eric Meza, Lou Reed, Vernon Reid, Patti Smith, and Sandra Stark). Photographic Resource Center, Boston, 1997.
  • Matthias Leupold: Fahnenappell & Gartenlaube. Photographic Resource Center, Boston, 1995.
  • Photographs by Dennis Hopper: 1961–1967. Co-curator with Robert E. Seydel. Photographic Resource Center, Boston, 1994.
  • Return and Exile: Sylvia Plachy's Photographs from Central Europe and Susan Rubin Suleiman's Budapest Diary. Photographic Resource Center, Boston, 1984.
  • Other Africas: Photographs by Max Belcher, Fazal Sheikh, and Vera Viditz-Ward. Photographic Resource Center, Boston, 1983.
  • Virginia Beahan & Laura McPhee: No Ordinary Land. Photographic Resource Center, Boston, 1982.
  • The Missing Picture: Boris Michailov. List Visual Arts Center at MIT, Cambridge, Mass., 1990.
  • The Missing Picture: Alternative Contemporary Photography in the Soviet Union (Vladimir Kupreanov, Ilya Piganov, Maria Serebrjakova, Alexey Shulgin). List Visual Arts Center at MIT, Cambridge, Mass., 1990.
  • Hidden Story: Samizdat from Hungary and Elsewhere. Co-curator with Tibor Várnagy. Franklin Furnace Archive, New York, 1990.
  • The Metamorphic Medium: Contemporary Photography from Hungary. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio, 1989.
  • Leupold/Leupold. Portland School of Art, Portland, ME, 1988.
  • The Photo Diary of Anna Bohdziewicz (selections from 1986–89). Photographic Resource Center, Boston, 1987.
  • Out of Eastern Europe: Private Photography. List Visual Arts Center at MIT, Cambridge, Mass., 1987.
  • Second International Portfolio of Artists' Photography. Liget Galeria & Galeria 11, Budapest, Hungary, 1986.
  • First International Portfolio of Artists' Photography. Büro fur Kunstlerische, Trogen, Switzerland, 1983.

Selected publications

Awards

References

  1. ^ PostHype in MoMA Dadabase. Museum of Modern Art, New York. 1981. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  2. ^ Welch, Chuck. "Global Network Zines: The Public Face of Mail Art 1970–1985". Lomholt Mailart Archive. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  3. ^ Welch, Chuck (1986). Networking Currents. Boston: Sandbar Willow Press. pp. 41–42.
  4. ^ Jacob, John (1986). The 2nd International Portfolio of Artists' Photography. New York: Riding Beggar Press.
  5. ^ Jacob, John (1987). Out of Eastern Europe: Private Photography. Cambridge: List Visual Arts Center at MIT.
  6. ISSN 0743-6025
    .
  7. ^ Jacob, John (1987). The Coffee Table Book of Mail Art: The Intimate Letters of J.P. Jacob, 1981–1987. New York: Riding Beggar Press.
  8. ^ Varnagy, Tibor. "Liget Galeria Exhibitions". Liget Galeria. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  9. ^ Jacob, John; Varnagy, Tibor. "Closing the Book: Samizdat in New York City". 111+1+1. Liget Galeria. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  10. ^ Grundberg, Andy (July 19, 1987). "PHOTOGRAPHY VIEW; Two Against the Current, One With the Tide". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  11. ^ Goldberg, Vicki (February 7, 1999). "ART / ARCHITECTURE; Gleams of Creativity Through a Political Wall". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  12. ISBN 0-8135-3453-4
    .
  13. JSTOR i231710
    .
  14. ^ Brown, Leslie. "John Cohen and Why there is No Eye". Photographic Resource Center. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  15. ^ "There is No Eye". Photographic Resource Center. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  16. ^ Roma, Thomas (October 31, 1997). "Looking Into the Face of Our Own Worst Fears Through Photographs". Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  17. ^ Ham, William. "Velvet on Kodachrome: LOU REED at the Photographic Resource Center". Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  18. ^ Cutler, Chris. "Photos by chris cutler from Extended Play: Between Rock and an Art Space". Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  19. ^ Landemaine, Oliver. "The Velvet Underground: Exhibitions". Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  20. ^ Gordon, Mike. "Phish Tour Archives". Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  21. ^ Reed, Lou. "Emotion in Action". Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  22. ISBN 3-88243-923-8
    .
  23. ^ "Here are the ten most visited photography exhibitions of 2019".
  24. ^ "Art's Most Popular: Here are 2019's most visited shows and museums".
  25. ^ Dipietro, Monty. "The high priestess of rock 'n' roll 'n' . . . art". Japan Times. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  26. ^ Ray, Man. "Exhibitions". Man Ray Trust. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  27. ^ Okazawa, Kotaro. "Man Ray: Unconcerned But Not Indifferent". Time Out: Tokyo. Retrieved 7 February 2015.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_P._Jacob&oldid=1188492655"