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Jan Faul "Potomac : East and West" (portfolio of photoprints)

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Catalog Data

Creator:
Faul, Jan, 1945-  Search this
Extent:
0.3 Cubic feet (1 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Topographical views
Manipulated photographs
Photographs
Painted photographs
Hand coloring
Landscapes (representations)
Portfolios (groups of works)
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- 1990-2000
West Virginia -- 1990-2000
Virginia -- 1990-2000
Maryland -- 1980-2000
Potomac River -- 1990-2000
Date:
1991
Summary:
The collection is a set of twenty-four black-and-white silver gelatin prints entitled "Potomac: East and West," by Jan Faul, 1991. They include agricultural landscapes, cemeteries, industrial buildings commercial buildings in rural areas, etc., in the Potomac River region of Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Each image contains a small area hand-colored by the photographer, providing a subtly mysterious, often whimsical or humorous effect.
Scope and Contents:
The collection is a set of twenty-four black-and-white silver gelatin prints entitled "Potomac: East and West," and is number six in an edition of forty five. The photographs all were taken in 1991 and the prints were made shortly thereafter. The photographs are basically somewhat romantic documentary images of locales in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia, including landscapes and industrial settings, interiors and exteriors, some of which are apparently abandoned. Human figures are seen only incidentally in several images. Each print has a small area hand colored by the artist, usually adding subtle humor and/or a hint of mystery. The titles are brief and geographical, and the set is numbered I to XII and XIV to XXV; there is no number XIII, the artist was careful to point out.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series. Sequence arranged by artist: numbered I-XII, XIV-XXV (no number XIII).
Biographical / Historical:
Jan Faul was born in Port Chester, New York in 1945. His family moved frequently, living in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Denver, Toronto, Strasbourg, and Bern, Switzerland. In Bern he received his first camera as a gift for his fourteenth birthday. He returned to the United States and completed high school in Washington. In his late teens Faul met Roy Stryker, legendary director of the Farm Security Administration documentary photography project, who suggested that he spend time looking at photographs in the Library of Congress which he did, concentrating on the F.S.A. files. Influenced by his artist parents, Faul studied art history and graphics in college, hoping to become a printmaker, but had begun to support himself with photography by the time he graduated from The George Washington University in 1969. The "immediacy" of photography and other aesthetic considerations in addition to the financial ones finally led to Faul's abandonment of printmaking and commitment to photography. Since 1970 he has been a self employed photographer, working in landscape, still life, and portraiture. He documented the lives of poor people in the U.S. from July 1970 to March 1971 for the Office of Economic Opportunity. In summer 1971 he photographed scenes of rural poverty for the Appalachian Regional Commission. A grant from the Upjohn Institute for American Labor Studies in 1974 supported his photographic documentation of American workers and changing work habits. In the summer of 1975 he worked for the Smithsonian, portraying the locksmen and pilots of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Further grants and contracts for documentary photography followed, including the 1976 Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife. Faul moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1979, and there worked on commercial accounts for Esso, Polaroid, and others, while continuing to pursue a variety of personal photographic projects. He returned to the Washington, D.C., area a decade later. The photographer's career has included commercial work and contractual documentary projects, as well as the sale of photographic prints as art to private collectors and sales and donations to institutions. Fourteen photographs were donated to the Division of Photographic History of this Museum in 1970, and his work is in the collections of the Royal Museum of Art in Denmark, The Library of Congress, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, George Eastman House, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Oakland Museum, and others. He has received a number of awards, and has been included in a number of group and solo exhibitions. He has received an artist's residency at Yaddo for 1992 1993. Additional biographical information, including a bibliography, is on file in the Archives Center.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Jan Faul, November 13, 1991.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Use and copyright restrictions: all rights retained by the artist. The Museum may exhibit and reproduce photographs in its publications, but cannot make copies or authorize reproduction by others. Contact artist for reproduction arrangements.
Topic:
Agricultural land -- 1990-2000  Search this
Rivers -- 1990-2000 -- United States  Search this
Commercial buildings -- 1990-2000  Search this
Cemeteries -- 1990-2000  Search this
Industrial complexes -- United States  Search this
Industrial towns -- 1990-2000  Search this
Genre/Form:
Topographical views
Manipulated photographs
Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 1990-2000
Painted photographs
Hand coloring
Landscapes (representations) -- 1990-2000 -- United States
Portfolios (groups of works) -- 1990-2000
Citation:
Jan Faul "Potomac East and West" Portfolio, 1991, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of the artist.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0441
See more items in:
Jan Faul "Potomac : East and West" (portfolio of photoprints)
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep851520cd3-8ba6-48d1-acdc-c078e9c85d55
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0441