Jack Delano
Kiev, Ukraine, 1914 - San Juan, PR, 1997
Biography Details
Photographer, filmmaker, graphic designer, illustrator, and composer. Delano’s family came to Philadelphia in 1923 after fleeing the chaos of the Russian Revolution in 1917. He studied music at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and later studied illustration and design at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he received a grant to travel to Europe. There, he became interested in photography, and when he returned to Philadelphia he was hired by the Federal Art Project, the arts division of the Works Progress Administration. Master photographer Paul Strand saw an exhibition of Delano’s photographs and urged him to move to New York, where he met Irene (soon to be his wife), with whom he traveled, eventually, in 1941, to Puerto Rico for a documentary project with the Farm Security Administration, which had hired him on Roy Stryker’s recommendation. In 1946 he settled on the island definitively. His great contribution to art in Puerto Rico occurred when he took part in the organization of the Cinema and Graphics Unit (CGU) of the Commission of Parks and Recreation (the CGU later becoming the Division of Community Education); he was ever-active in producing documentaries, films, and photographs, and took part in the island’s first years of television and radio. In the late eighties, the Smithsonian Institution published a book of his photographs titled Puerto Rico Mio: Four Decades of Change.
Artist Statement
I didn't know that there were rules governing the style of documentary photography. In fact, I don't think that the term is very accurate. As far as I’m concerned, the photography that I made for the FSA remains the same to the one I still practice. It is based on a passionate interest in the human condition. This is the philosophical basis of all work I do. I am interested in people, not only as photographic images, but as persons. While I interviewed them, I always paid attention to their stories. I believed that it was very important what they had to say, what I would try to communicate to others.
Jack Delano, 1993
Source: Contrastes: Cuarenta Años de Cambio y Continuidad en Puerto Rico, Fotografía de Jack Delano, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico, October 12, 1995- January 28, 1996.
Formation
Education
1924-1932
- Settlement Music School, Pennsylvania, United States
1932-1935
- Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Pennsylvania, United States
Professional Experience
1969
- Designer. Pablo Casals Museum, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1961-1969
- Director of Programming and General Manager. WIPR radio and television station, San Juan and Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
1953-1957
- Independent Producer. Puerto Rico
- Director of the cinema section. División de Educación para la Comunidad, Departamento de Instrucción Pública, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1947-1953
- Director of the cinema section. Information and Press Office, La Fortaleza, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1946-1947
- Documentary Photographer. Information Office of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1943-1946
- Photographer. United States Army, United States
1942
- Fotógrafo. Fuerza Aérea de los Estados Unidos, Guam
- Photographer. United States Air Force, Guam
1942
- Photographer. US Office of War Information, United States
1941
- Photographer. Farm Security Administration, Puerto Rico
1940
- Photographer. Historical Unit, Farm Security Administration, Washington, DC, United States
1939-1940
- Photographer. United Fund, New York, United States
1937
- Photographer. Federal Art Project, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, United States
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
2014
- Jack Delano: Photographer, Widener Gallery, Austin Arts Center, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, United States
2006
- Delano Prints, Galería Viota, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1999
- The Art of Jack Delano, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, United States
1997
- Jack Nuestro: The Art of Jack Delano, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1995
- Contrastes, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico
1994
- Contrastes, Liga de Estudiantes de Arte, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1993
- Galería Gotay, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- The Eye of Jack Delano, Library of Congress, Washington DC, United States
1991
- Museo de Arte e Historia, San Juan; Museo Casa Roig, Humacao, Puerto Rico
1990
- Contrastes, Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, United States
1987
- Contrastes, Centro cultural de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1985
- Madres e Hijos, Casa Aboy, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1984
- Contrastes, Museo de Arte e Historia, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Eugenio María de Hostos Community College, Bronx, New York, United States
1982
- Contrastes: Cuarenta años de cambio y continuidad en Puerto Rico, Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1979
- Our Humility, Our Pride, Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts, United States
1978
- Liga de Estudiantes de Arte, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Sonnabend Gallery, New York, United States
1938
- Anthracite Coal Miners, Pennsylvania Railroad Station Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Group Shows
2013
- Un/Natural Color, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, United States
2007
- Contexto puertorriqueño: del rococó colonial al arte global, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1994
- The Religious South, Soho, New York, United States
- Houston FOTO Fest, Houston, Texas, United States
1993
- An American Vision, Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, United States
1992
- V Bienal Internacional de Fotografía, Vigo, Spain
- Foto 92, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1991
- Museo de Aguada, Aguada, Puerto Rico
- Acadian Hard Times: The Farm Security Administration in Main’s St. John Valley, 1940-1943, University of Maine, Fort Kent, Maine; University of Maine Museum of Art, Maine, United States
1990
- New Deal Art Exhibit, South Carolina State Museum, South Carolina, United States
1987
- Tarjeta de Navidad Puertorriqueña, Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Our Children to the South, Outer Gallery, General Assembly, Organization of American States, Washington DC, United States
1986
- A Decade of En Foco, Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, United States
1985
- The Farm Security Administration: A Fifty-Year Commemorative Symposium, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States
1982
- Building a New World: Black Labor Photographs, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, United States
1981
- Irene y Jack Delano on Puerto Rico, Museo de la Universidad, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1980
- Les Années Ameres de l’Amerique en Crise, Galerie Municipale du Chateau d’Eau, Toulouse, France
1979
- Images de l’Amerique en Crise, Centre Geroges Pompidou, París, France
- Amerika Fotografie, Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland
1978
- Work, Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco, California, United States
1977
- Documenta 6, Kassel, Germany
- WPA Photographs, The Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, United States
- FSA Photographs, Macalester College, St, Paul, Minnesota; Santa Barbara Museum Of Art, Santa Barbara, California, United States
1976
- Master of Photography, International Center of Photography, New York, United States
- FSA Photographers, Witkin Gallery, New York, United States
- Santee-Cooper River People, Spoleto Festival, Charleston, North Carolina, United States
1973
- FSA Photographs, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States
1962
- The Bitter Years, Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States
1955
- The Family of Man, Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States
Awards, Distinctions and Achievements
1993
- Dedication. Casals Festival, Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1992
- Medal of Honor. For “Trabajadores de caña” photograph, 5th Centenary of the Discovery of America, Argentinian Federation of Photography, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1991
- Doctorate Honoris Causa. Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1987
- Doctorate Honoris Causa. Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1979
- Grant. National Fund for the Humanities, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1974
- Award. Brooklyn Art Books, New York, United States
1967
- Award for musical composition. Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Award. José de Diego Competition, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1962
- First Prize. Albertus Magnus College Composition Contest, Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, Connecticut, United States
1960
- Fellowship. UNESCO Travelling Fellowship for studies in Asia and Europe
1959
- Award for musical composition. Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1958
- Award for musical composition. Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1954
- First Prize. Composition Competition, WIPR Radio, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1946
- Grant. John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, New York, United States. Completed with the grant the photography book about Puerto Rico
1936
- Scholarship. Cresson Traveling Scholarship, for independent art studies in Europe, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania, United States
Collections
- Casa del Libro, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Houston Museum of Art, Houston, Texas, United States
- Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- International Museum of Photographers, George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, United States
- Library of Congress, Washington DC, United States
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States
- Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico
- Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States
- New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
- New York Public Library, New York, United States
- University of Louisville, Kentucky, United States
Bibliography
Books ilustrated by the artist
De San Juan a Ponce en tren. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico,1990.
Puerto Rico Mio. Washington DC, Estados Unidos: Smithsonian Institution Press,1990.
Sabios Árboles, Mágicos Árboles. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Fideicomiso de Conservación de Puerto Rico, 1974.
Books
Hermandad de Artistas Gráficos de Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico Arte e Identidad. San Juan, P.R.: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1998.
A Vision Shared. Nueva York, Estados Unidos: St. Martin’s Press, 1976.
In This Proud Land. Nueva York, Estados Unidos: The New York Graphic Society, 1973.
Portrait of a Decade. Louisiana, Estados Unidos: Louisiana State University Press, 1972.
American Photographers of the Depression. Pantheon Books, Nueva York y Centre National de la Fotographie, Paris, 1985.
Catalogues
Contrastes: 40 años de cambio y continuidad en Puerto Rico, Una exposición de fotografías por Jack Delano. Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico, 1995.
Selección de la Colección “Contrastes”, Liga de Arte de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1994.
Jourdes, Julien. Delano Prints, Galería Viota, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2006.
“Films with a purpose”, Festival de cine puertorriqueño en Nueva York, abril-mayo de 1987.
Newspapers
“Another Delano Success”. The San Juan Star (San Juan, PR), 31 d enero de 1991.
“Jack Delano, Clicking in Puerto Rico for 30 years”. The San Juan Star (San Juan, PR), junio de 1975.
“Jack Delano artista y borincano por amor”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 25 de octubre de 1987.
“Jack Delano”. The San Juan Star (San Juan, PR), 11 de diciembre de 1977.
“Las Fotos de Jack Delano”. El Mundo (San Juan, PR), 5 de diciembre de 1982.
“The serious pleasure of commitment- the Delanos gifts”. The San Juan Star (San Juan, PR), 11 de enero de 1981.
“Tributo a dos artistas”. El Mundo (San Juan, PR), 19 de junio de 1981.
A tribute to the Delanos. The San Juan Star (San Juan, PR), 26 de julio de 1981.
Alegre Barrios, Mario. “Jack Delano y el arte como reflejo de la condición humana”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 28 de agosto de 1994, pp. 90-91.
El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 25 de octubre de 1987.
Enjunto Rangel, Cecilia. “Don Jack, un boricua auténtico”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 28 de agosto de 1984, p. 92.
Maldonado Martínez, M. “Jack Delano, maestro del cine puertorriqueño”. El Reportero (San Juan, PR), 4 de febrero de 1984.
Periódico Faro Vigo, España, 31 de octubre de 1991.
Reina, Pedro. “La simiente de Jack”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 1 de octubre de 2007.
Magazines
Becquer Casaballe. Jack Delano: La fuerza del testimonio fotográfico, Revista Foto Mundo (Argentina), núm. 325, mayo 1995, pp. 25-36, 44-46, 63-65.
Revista Nueva Luz, En Foco Inc., Nueva York, 1992.