John Yang (1933 – 2009) was an American architect and photographer.

Early life

Born in China, he settled in the United States with his family in 1939. His interest in photography began as a child and was later developed when he was a student at

The Putney School The Putney School is an independent high school in Putney, Vermont. The school was founded in 1935 by Carmelita Hinton on the principles of the Progressive Education movement and the teachings of its principal exponent, John Dewey. It is a co-edu ...

in Vermont where he was classmates with other future photographers such as

Tim Asch Timothy Asch (July 16, 1932 – October 3, 1994) was an American anthropologist, photographer, and ethnographic filmmaker. Along with John Marshall and Robert Gardner, Asch played an important role in the development of visual anthropology. He i ...

. In the summer of 1951, he studied with Minor White at The California School of the Fine Arts. He graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

majoring in Philosophy, and in 1957 he earned a MA in Architecture from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

studying under

Louis Kahn Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whi ...

. Before becoming a photographer full-time, Yang worked as an architect and continued in that practice until 1978.

Career

One of his photographs, "Blindman's Bluff", that was taken at

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, France in 1960, was edited and used by the band Sigur Ros for their 2002 album '' ( )''. The John Yang Archive is at the

Center for Creative Photography The Center for Creative Photography (CCP), established in 1975 and located on the University of Arizona's Tucson campus, is a research facility and archival repository containing the full archives of over sixty of the most famous American pho ...

at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

Personal life

Yang's daughter is the American musician, graphic designer, photographer, and filmmaker

Naomi Yang Naomi Yang (born September 15, 1964) is an American musician, graphic designer, photographer and filmmaker. She was a member of the dreampop band Galaxie 500, psychedelic rock band Magic Hour and is half of the psychedelic folk duo Damon and N ...

(b. 1964).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, John 1933 births 2009 deaths University of Pennsylvania School of Design alumni Harvard College alumni 20th-century American architects 20th-century American photographers The Putney School alumni American architects of Chinese descent American artists of Chinese descent