Frank Van Deren Coke, F. Van Deren Coke, or Van Deren Coke (July 4, 1921 – July 11, 2004) was an American photographer, scholar and museum professional. He was born in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

, and died in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

Early career

Coke's introduction to photography began as a practicing photographer. He studied with Nicholas Haz at the Clarence H. White School of Photography and later with

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advoca ...

. He had his first exhibition at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

in 1940 while he was there studying history and art history.

Museum jobs

Coke was the founding director of the

University of New Mexico Art Museum The University of New Mexico Art Museum (sometimes referred to as the University Art Museum or UNM Art Museum) is an art museum at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The museum's permanent collection includes nearly 30,000 objects, making ...

from 1962 to 1970. In 1970—during Beaumont Newhall's final year—he served as Deputy Director and from 1971 to 1972 as Director of the George Eastman Museum (then George Eastman House). From 1979 to 1987 he was director of the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

's photography department.Encyclopedia Van Deren Coke
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Notable publications

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References

External links

Luminous-Lint page

Van Deren Coke in the George Eastman House Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coke, Van Deren 1921 births 2004 deaths Directors of museums in the United States Directors of George Eastman House Artists from Lexington, Kentucky University of New Mexico faculty Historians of photography 20th-century American photographers American art historians Writers from New Mexico University of Kentucky alumni Indiana University Bloomington alumni Harvard University alumni