Jeff Jacobson (1946 – 9 August 2020) was a noted American color photographer born in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

in 1946. He began his career as a lawyer for the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

before devoting himself to photography after studying under Charles Harbutt. A member of

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...

from 1978 to 1981, he subsequently was a partner of Archive Pictures and later affiliated with Redux Pictures.

Photography career

His first collection of color photographs, ''My Fellow Americans ...'', was published in 1991, and covered the years 1978-1989, documenting American society during the era of

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

. During this period, his photographs were candids, and marked by visual jokes. He sabotaged the surface level of the subject matter in the frame by using strobe and fill-flash that hyperbolized the glitz of the composition, and gave the composition a disorienting blurriness. The title references Swiss photographer

Robert Frank Robert Frank (November 9, 1924 – September 9, 2019) was a Swiss photographer and documentary filmmaker, who became an American binational. His most notable work, the 1958 book titled ''The Americans'', earned Frank comparisons to a modern-da ...

's work ''

The Americans ''The Americans'' is an American historical drama, period spy fiction, spy drama television series created by Joe Weisberg that aired on the FX (TV channel), FX television network for six seasons from January 30, 2013, to May 30, 2018. Weisberg ...

'', with the cover image of Jacobson's father holding Jeff's son reminiscent of Frank's shot of a jet-black nanny cradling an ivory-white infant. His other stated and implicit influences include André Kertész, Charles Harbutt, Mark Rothko, Danny Lyons, Weegee, postmodernist Ralph Steadman, the Depression-era photojournalist

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' ...

, and

Odilon Redon Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; ; 20 April 18406 July 1916) was a French Symbolism (arts), symbolist painter, printmaker, Drawing, draughtsman and pastellist. Early in his career, both before and after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, he ...

. In 2006, Jacobson published ''Melting Point''. These photographs present a more ethereal view of the world in transition, from 1990-2002. While most of these images were taken during his magazine assignments, they present a more lyrical, internal reaction to the events of the deaths of his parents, returning to live on the East coast, and the startling moment the Twin Towers burn behind a bronze statue depicting the horror of the Katyn Forest massacre. In 2013, the book "The Last Roll" is released by Daylight Books. "The Last Roll" embodies the maturation of Jacobson's work, further abstracting his vision of the world, while his medium of Kodachrome film ceased production, shortly after he is diagnosed and treated for cancer. As he recovered his energy, his photographs are imbued with a new understanding of mortality. After viewing the world first from the windows of his home, he re-entered it again with fresh eyes, focussed now on the images that move him and give him strength. He has also been published in ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', and other magazines, and numerous museums such as 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), ...

hold collections of his prints. Jacobson died on 9 August 2020.Muere el fotógrafo Jeff Jacobson tras 16 años luchando contra el cáncer

Personal style

About his visual style, he wrote:

References

External links

* http://www.jeffjacobsonphotography.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobson, Jeff American photojournalists American portrait photographers American people of Jewish descent Artists from Des Moines, Iowa 2020 deaths 1946 births Photographers from Iowa