Jeff Cowen (January 9, 1966 in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) is an

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art photographer. He is known for painterly silver gelatin photo murals and photo collages. Various chemical procedures, mark-making, brushwork, and post darkroom mixed media finishing techniques are often contained in his artworks.

Early life and education

Jeff Cowen was a

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Honours Scholar in Oriental Studies. He also studied at Waseda University in Tokyo. His senior year he took a photography class with

Elaine Mayes Elaine may refer to: * Elaine (legend), name shared by several different female characters in Arthurian legend, especially: ** Elaine of Astolat ** Elaine of Corbenic * "Elaine" (short story), 1945 short story by J. D. Salinger * Elaine (singer), ...

at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. During this class he made photographs of prostitution in the Meatpacking District in New York City. This work was acquired by the New-York Historical Society for their permanent collection.

Career

After graduating he worked as an assistant for master American photographers

Larry Clark Lawrence Donald Clark (born January 19, 1943) is an American film director, photographer, writer and film producer who is best known for his controversial teen film ''Kids'' (1995) and his photography book ''Tulsa'' (1971). His work focuses prim ...

from 1988 to 1990, and

Ralph Gibson Ralph Gibson (born January 16, 1939) is an American art photographer best known for his photographic books. His images often incorporate fragments with erotic and mysterious undertones, building narrative meaning through contextualization and su ...

from 1990 to 1992. Clark was the assistant of

W. Eugene Smith William Eugene Smith (December 30, 1918 – October 15, 1978) was an American photojournalist.Peacock, Scot. "W(illiam) Eugene Smith." ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2003. ''Biography In Context'' He has been described as "perhaps the si ...

and Gibson was the assistant of

Dorothea Lange Dorothea Lange (born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn; May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange' ...

. At age 23, Cowen's images of the Romanian Revolution appeared in:

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, Tel Aviv Post,

Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are t ...

, Asahi Shimbun. Cowen studied drawing and anatomy (1994–1996) at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

and the

New York Studio School The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture at 8 West 8th Street, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York State is an art school formed in 1963 by a group of students and their teacher, Mercedes Matter, all of ...

. In 2001, he moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France. He was awarded the Thomas Cooke Award for Photography. In 2005, his first monograph was published by

Paris Musées Paris Musées is a public institution that has incorporated in the same entity the 14 City of Paris Museums plus staff in charge of management, collection monitoring and production of exhibitions, events and editions, bringing together about 1000 e ...

. That monograph contains his early New York work and his painterly Mural collages of nudes. In 2007, Cowen collaborated with filmmaker and writer Andre Labarthe founder of the ''

Cahiers du cinéma ''Cahiers du Cinéma'' (, ) is a French film magazine co-founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca.Itzkoff, Dave (9 February 2009''Cahiers Du Cinéma Will Continue to Publish''The New York TimesMacnab, Ge ...

'' for his exhibition called The Lotus Eaters. Jeff Cowen's works are included in numerous private and public collections all over the world. His works have been shown in Kunsthalle Bremerhaven, Germany; DZ Bank Art Collection Frankfurt, Germany; Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany; Huis Marseille, Museum voor Fotografie, Amsterdam, Netherland; Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Russia; among others. In 2021, Jeff Cowen was nominated and awarded the Pollock Krasner Grant for Fine Art Still Photography. Since 2007, Cowen lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Jeff Cowen photographer

Personal life

Cowen taught photography to underprivileged, inner-city kids at LEAP between 1990 and 1994. Cowen discovered and mentored the young and brilliant illegal immigrant Dan-el Padilla and helped him earn a scholarship to Collegiate School in New York City. Padilla later earned a scholarship at Princeton University where he graduated with the highest distinction and was offered full scholarship at Oxford University. Due to Padilla's illegal immigrant status, Padilla and Cowen were both featured in an article in the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' that highlighted some of the absurdity and rigidity of U.S. immigration laws.Miriam Jordan,
Illegal at Princeton
, ''Wall Street Journal,'' 15 April 2006. Dan-el Padilla is currently an associate professor of classics at Princeton University.

Selected exhibitions

*2021: Jeff Cowen. Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow (solo exhibition) *2020: The Lives and Loves of Images. Wilhelm-Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen (group exhibition) *2019: 64 Art Works. Art Collection of The New School, New York (group exhibition) *2019: Jeff Cowen. Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf, Frankfurt (solo exhibition) *2019: Jeff Cowen 30 Works. curated by Eric Schlosser, Museum of Modern Art, Tbilisi (solo exhibition) *2018: Recent Work. Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Köln (solo exhibition) *2018: Picture Believer. The Glen Bjørnholt Collection, Oslo (group exhibition) *2018: Elèctric i llunyà. Collection olorVisual, Barcelona (group exhibition) *2017: Jeff Cowen Photoworks 2002 – 2015. Huis Marseille, Museum voor Fotografie, Amsterdam (solo exhibition) *2016: Jeff Cowen Photoworks 2002 – 2015. Ludwig Museum, Koblenz (solo exhibition) *2016: Jeff Cowen Sculpture Photographs. Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Köln (solo exhibition) *2016: Jeff Cowen Capturing Eclipse. Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf, Frankfurt (solo exhibition) *2016: Back To The Future Of Photography. DZ Art Collection, Frankfurt (group exhibition) *2016: Fotografies I Dibuixos. Gallery A34, Barcelona (group exhibition) *2015: Jeff Cowen Capturing Eclipse. Kunsthalle Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven (solo exhibition) *2015: Jeff Cowen. Willas Contemporary, Oslo (solo exhibition) *2015: Marguerite. Galerie Seine 51, Paris (group exhibition) *2014: Jeff Cowen, Yamamoto Masao, Arno Rafael Minkkinen. Blomqvist Kunsthandel, Oslo (group exhibition) *2014: Hängengeblieben – 25 Jahre Kunstverein Recklinghausen. Kunsthalle Recklinghausen (group exhibition) *2014: The Marseillaise / fifteen years of collecting. Huis Marseille – Museum voor Fotografie, Amsterdam (group exhibition) *2014: Landscapes. Kunstverein Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen (solo exhibition) *2014: Jeff Cowen. VeneKlasen/Werner, Berlin (solo exhibition) *2014: PHOTOGRAPHY. Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Köln (solo exhibition) *2014: Jeff Cowen. Paris Photo 2013, Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Grand Palais, Paris (solo exhibition) *2014: Jeff Cowen and Yamamoto Masao. Pug Gallery, Norwegen (group exhibition) *2012: The Cross. Nuova Galleria Morone, Mailand (group exhibition) *2012: Jeff Cowen. Photographic works. Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Köln (solo exhibition) *2011: Jeff Cowen. Gallery Seine 51, Paris (solo exhibition) *2011: Insight. Art Moscow special project, Moskau (solo exhibition) *2011: Jeff Cowen. Urs Albrecht, Basel (solo exhibition) *2010: Scarab. Bernd Klüser, München (solo exhibition) *2009: Jeff Cowen. Galerie Seine 51 Paris et Galerie Seine 51 Miami (solo exhibition) *2008: Jeff Cowen. Galerie A34, Barcelona (solo exhibition) *2008: White. Galerie Seine 51, Paris (group exhibition) *2008: Photo murals. Galerie Bernd Klüser, München (solo exhibition) *2006: The Lotus-Eaters. Galerie Seine 51, Paris (solo exhibition) *2006: Fotografies. A/34 Gallery, Barcelona (group exhibition) *2006: Premières rencontres photographiques. Galerie d’Art de Créteil, Créteil (solo exhibition) *2005: L’art et la guerre. La Filature, Mulhouse (solo exhibition) *2004: 1987-2004 work. Galerie Seine 51, Paris (solo exhibition) *2003: Shoot and Die. Galerie Seine 51, Paris (solo exhibition) *2001: The Scroll Paintings. The Point Gallery, New York (solo exhibition) *2001: Ming Murals. Chaos Night Club, New York (solo exhibition) *2000: China Studies, Luise Gallery, New York (solo exhibition) *1999: Shoot and Die. Vitrinen Calvin Klein, Bergdorf Goodman, New York (solo exhibition) *1994: South Bronx, Collegiate School, New York *1993: Jeff Cowen. West 14th Street at The Space, New York, curated by Chris D’Amelio (solo exhibition)

Notes

External links

Jeff Cowen Artist Talk Photographic Works Cologne 2012 Jeff Cowen web page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowen, Jeff Tisch School of the Arts alumni 1966 births Living people Photographers from New York City Photographers from Berlin