Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe (born July 9, 1951) is an American photographer and activist. She is best known for her work in magazines, newspapers, and several photography books, and also as an AIDS activist.

Early life and education

Moutoussamy-Ashe was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois, on July 9, 1951. Her mother's family was from Arkansas, and her father's family came from New Orleans and Guadeloupe. Both parents were professionals in art-related fields. Her mother, Elizabeth Rose Hunt Moutoussamy, was an interior designer, and her father, John Warren Moutoussamy, was an architect. They encouraged her to pursue her own artistic interests by enrolling her in weekend classes at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

when she was eight years old. At the age of 18 a family friend, Frank Stewart, introduced her to photography. After her application to the

Cooper Union School of Art The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

was rejected, she studied with Garry Winogrand for a summer and then reapplied. Moutoussamy-Ashe went on to earn her BFA from the Cooper Union in 1975. Before graduating, she spent her junior year in West Africa to complete independent study in photography.

Career

After graduating, Moutoussamy-Ashe worked as a graphic artist and in television photojournalism for

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...

and WNEW in New York, and also for '' PM Magazine''. Her friend, Gordon Parks suggested that she obtain credentials to photograph the 1968

United Negro College Fund UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, also known as the United Fund, is an American philanthropic organization that funds scholarships for black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically black colleges and universities. ...

Tennis Tournament organized by tennis champion

Arthur Ashe Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. He started to play tennis at six years old. He was the first black player selected to the Unite ...

. Over the course of her career, Moutoussamy-Ashe has contributed photographs to many magazines and newspapers, including ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'', '' Smithsonian'', ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'', '' People Weekly'', '' Ebony'', '' Black Enterprise'', ''World Tennis'', ''

Self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...

'', and '' Essence''.

Personal life

Moutoussamy-Ashe married

in 1977. In December 1986, Ashe and Moutoussamy-Ashe adopted a daughter, whom they named Camera after Moutoussamy-Ashe's profession. Nineteen months later, Arthur was diagnosed as

HIV positive The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...

, after contracting the disease via a blood transfusion he received during heart bypass surgery.

Recognition

Moutoussamy-Ashe has participated in a number of individual and group exhibits in cities around the United States and Europe, and her work is included in the permanent collections of several museums, including the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York, the

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a research library of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide. Located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) b ...

, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

, and the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

. It is also in private collections, including

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

's. She has received a number of awards, including the Essence Photography Literary Award (2008), and a Mayoral Citation from the City of Chicago (1986). She also holds two honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees, from

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

(2002, Charlotte, North Carolina) and

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university with two main campuses, LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It offers more than 500 academic programs at its main campuses, online, and at multiple non-residential. LIU ...

(C.W. Post Campus, 1990).

Publications

Books

* 1982
''Daufuskie Island, a Photographic Essay''
Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press. * 1993
''Daddy and Me: A Photo Story of Arthur Ashe and His Daughter, Camera''
New York: A.A. Knopf: Distributed by Random House, Inc. * 1993
''Viewfinders: Black Women Photographers''
New York; London: Writers & Readers. * 2001
''The African Flower''
New York, N.Y.: Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe. * 2011
''Arthur Ashe: Out of the Shadow''
New York, NY: Arthur Ashe Learning Center. * 2007
''Intimate Portraits: Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe''
New York: Bill Hodges Gallery.

References

External links

Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe CV
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moutoussamy-Ashe, Jeanne 1951 births Living people Cooper Union alumni Photographers from Illinois African-American photographers 20th-century American photographers 21st-century American photographers Artists from Chicago School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni 20th-century American women photographers 21st-century American women photographers