Jack Welpott (April 27, 1923 – November 24, 2007) was an American photographer.
Biography
He was born in Kansas City on April 27, 1923, grew up in southern Indiana, and was educated at primary and secondary schools in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. He served in World War II, and returned to the Hoosier state to attend
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universit ...
. In 1949, he earned his BS in Economics from the Indiana University, Bloomington. Unsure of his direction, he enrolled in a photography class and met the legendary photography instructor
Henry Holmes Smith
Henry Holmes Smith (1909, Bloomington, Indiana–1986) was an American photographer and a fine art photography teacher. He was inspired by the work that had been done at the German Bauhaus and in 1937 was invited to teach photography at the New Bau ...
. Under his tutelage, Welpott became enthralled with black-and-white photography as a fine art form.
He studied painting under
Leon Golub
Leon Golub (January 23, 1922 – August 8, 2004) was an American painter. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he also studied, receiving his Bachelor of Arts, BA at the University of Chicago in 1942, and his Bachelor of Fine Arts, BFA and Ma ...
and Harry Engle, and design with
George Rickey
George Warren Rickey (June 6, 1907 – July 17, 2002) was an American kinetic sculptor.
Early life and education
Rickey was born on June 6, 1907, in South Bend, Indiana. When Rickey was still a child, his father, an executive with Singer S ...
, receiving his MS in Visual Communication in 1955, followed by an MFA in 1959.
Career
He began his long teaching career at
San Francisco State College
San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...
as he pursued the career of a professional photographer. In 1973 he was the recipient of the Medal of
Arles, France
Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...
; later that same year he received a grant from the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
; and, in 1983, a Polaroid grant in association with the
Museum of Photographic Arts
The Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) is a museum in San Diego's Balboa Park. First founded in 1974, MOPA opened in 1983.atalog Jan 23 – March 20, 1999. Petaluma, CA: Barry Singer Gallery, 1999.
* Welpott, Jack. ''Jack Welpott: The Halide Conversion.'' Tokyo, Japan: Gallery Min, 1988
* Camerawork Gallery, Jack Welpott, Leland Rice, and Harold Jones. ''Contemporary California Photography: Catalogue of the Exhibition Camerawork Gallery, March, April, May 1978.'' San Francisco: San Francisco Camerawork Press, 1978.
* Welpott, Jack. ''The Visual Dialogue Foundation xhibitionat the Friends of Photography Gallery, Carmel, Calif.,'' Febr. 4 Through March 10, 1972: atalog. 1972. OCLC 63353376