Prospect Photographie; Frankfurter Kunstverien;
Frankfurt, Germany
1990 The Indomitable Spirit; International Center of Photo-
graphy; New York, New York
Body Language: The Figure of Art in Our Time; Rose
Art Museum, Brandeis University; Waltham, Massa-
chusetts
1991 Whitney Biennial Exhibition; The Whitney Museum of
American Art; New York, New York
John Coplans/Chrystele Lerisse; Cardinaux; Chateller-
ault, France
The Physical Self; Museum Boymans-van-Beuningen;
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1992 Persona; Museum of Photographic Arts; San Diego,
California
De la curiosite ́: Petite Anatomie d’un regard; Dazi-
bao, Centre de Photographies Actuelles; Montreal,
Canada
Le Portrait dans l’art contemporain, 1945–1992; Muse ́e
d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain; Nice, France
Medaljens Bakside: Pirouettes; Lillehammer Art
Museum; Lillehamer, Norway
1995 Rites of Passage; Tate Gallery; London, England
1996 Prospect 96: Photography in Contemporary Art; Schirn
Kunsthalle Frankfurt and the Frankfurter Kunstverein;
Frankfurt, Germany
Une Aventure Contemporaine, la Photographie (1955–
1995); La Maison Europe ́enne de la Photographie;
Paris, France
Gender—Beyond Memory; Tokyo Metropolitan
Museum of Photography; Tokyo, Japan
2000 Missing Link - Menschen-Bilder in der Fotografie;
Kunstmuseum; Bern, Germany
Surface and Depth: Trends in Contemporary Portrait
Photography; Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth Col-
lege; Dartmouth, New HampshireSelected Works
Self-Portrait (Feet, Frontal), 1984
Self-Portrait (Torso Front), 1984
Foot, Dark Sole, 1989
Self Portrait Upside Down #1, 1992
Self-Portrait (Frieze No. 4, Three Panels), 1994
Self-Portrait: Hand, Palm, 1999Further Reading
Chevrier, Jean-Franc ̧ ois and Jorge Molder.John Coplans: A
Retrospective. Lisbon: Gulbenkian Foundation, 1992.
Coplans,John,ABody.NewYork:PowerhouseBooks,2002.
———.A Body of Work. New York: Printed Matter, 1987.
———.Hand. New York: Galerie Lelong, 1988.
———.Foot. New York: Galerie Lelong, 1989.
———.John Coplans: A Self Portrait 1984–99. Edinburg, Scot-
land: National Gallery of Modern Art, Dean Gallery, 1999.
Coplans, John, and Jean-Franc ̧ ois Chevrier.A Self-Por-
trait: John Coplans 1984–97. Long Island City, New
York: P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center; D.A.P./Distrib-
uted Art Publishers, 1997.
Coplans, John, and Melinda Wortz.John Coplans: Photo-
graphs, 1980–1985. Irvine, California: Fine Arts Gallery,
University of California, Irvine, 1985.
Morgan, Stuart.Provocations: Writings by John Coplans.
New York: Powerhouse Books, 2001.CORBIS/BETTMANN
Otto Ludwig Bettmann was born on October 15,
1903 in Leipzig, Germany to Hans and Charlotte
Bettmann. His father was an orthopedic surgeon in
Leipzig with his own clinic and his mother was
from a prominent and well-to-do Jewish family.
As members of the educated upper class, both par-
ents were part of the intelligentsia of Leipzig.
Raised in a heady atmosphere of science, music,
and the arts, Otto and his older brother Ernst were
surrounded by affluence and a dedication to learn-
ing in which they thrived.
Early on,OttoBettmann showeda keen interest in
academics and a willingness and desire to learn. A
somewhat precocious child, he studied piano with
Fraulein Schutze, a well-respected music teacher,
and sang in the St. Thomas’s Boys Choir, focusing
on the intricate and precise works of J. S. Bach, an
interest that persisted throughout his lifetime.
With Leipzig at the center of the European book
trade, Otto’s father began collecting rare books,
eventually amassing a wide-ranging collection of
books, manuscripts, and ephemera. Exposed at a
young age to the illustrations found in the pages of
his father’s books, Otto showed an early proclivity in
understanding the illustration as narrative. At the
age of thirteen he salvaged discarded medical illus-
trations from his father’s wastepaper basket and
created a hand-made, one-of-a-kind ‘art book’ thatCOPLANS, JOHN