negatives and reprinted many of the 1930s nega-
tives. After amassing a portfolio of 100 images, he
went to New York in 1974 at the age of 67 and
secured an exhibition at Light Gallery; Gutmann’s
photographs were rediscovered. His exhibition,
The Face of the Orient, had been mounted at the
M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Fran-
cisco in 1947, and now 27 years later, the San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art mounted a sec-
ond major solo exhibition titled, As I Saw It.
Thereafter and until his death in 1998, Gutmann’s
photographs were exhibited widely in both the
United States and Europe and acknowledged for
their unique and enduring qualities.The Photogra-
phy of John Gutmann: Culture Shockorganized by
the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts
at Stanford University, Palo Alto in 2000 featured
his classic images and traveled across the United
States, cementing his reputation.
John Gutmann never considered himself a great
photographeroragreatartist.Abouthiswork,hesaid:
I believe a good picture is open to many individual and
subjective associations. Ambiguity is an essential part of
life. I believe that art is life, and in that sense I am not
desperately trying to make art; rather, I am interested in
recording the marvelous extravagance of life.
DarwinMarableSeealso:Farm Security Administration; Group f/64;
Social Representation; Welpott, Jack
Biography
Born in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) on May
28, 1905. Immigrated to the United States in 1933, and
naturalized in 1940. Self-taught photographer. Educa-
tion: the State Academy of Arts and Crafts, Breslau,
B.A. in 1927; studied art with Otto Mueller, and also
studied the history of art and philosophy at Silesian
Friedrich Wilhelms University, Breslau; State Institute
for Higher Education, Berlin, M.A., 1928; and post-
graduate studies at Humboldt University, Berlin and
the Berlin Academy of Arts. Photographer with Presse-
Foto Agency, Berlin, 1933–1936; Pix, Inc., New York,
1939–1963. Professor, San Francisco State College (now
San Francisco State University), 1938–1973. Still and
motion picture cameraman, United States Army Signal
Corps and Office of War Information in China, Burma
and India, 1943–1945. Married Gerrie von Pribosic, a
painter, 1949. Distinguished Teaching Award, Califor-
nia State Colleges, 1968. John Simon Guggenheim
Memorial Fellowship, 1979. Died, San Francisco, Cali-
fornia, June 12, 1998.
Selected Individual Exhibitions
1938 Colorful America, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum,
San Francisco
1947 The Face of the Orient, M.H. de Young Memorial
Museum, San Francisco
1974 Light Gallery, New York
1976 As I Saw It, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
1985 Fotografias 1934–39, Il Jornades Fotografiques,
Valencia, Spain
1988 Talking Pictures: Signs, Tattoos & Graffiti, Fraenkel
Gallery, San Francisco
1989 John Gutmann: Beyond the Document, San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art
1997 John Gutmann: Parallels in Focus, Art Department
Gallery, San Francisco State University
2000 The Photography of John Gutmann: Culture Shock, Iris
& B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford
University, Palo Alto, California (traveled to Museum
of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; San Antonio
Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas; Henry Art Gal-
lery, University of Washington, Seattle; 2001, Frances
Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeep-
sie, New YorkSelected Group Exhibitions
1941 Image of Freedom, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1976 Photography and Language, La Mamelle, San Fran-
cisco (also Camerawork, San Francisco)
1979 Amerika Fotografie, 1920–40, Kunsthaus Zu ̈rich, Zur-
ich (toured Europe)
1980 Avant-Garde Photography in Germany, 1919–39, San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art (traveled to Akron
Art Institute, Ohio; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis;
Baltimore Museum of Art; Columbia College, Chicago;John Gutmann, Elevator Garage, Chicago, 1936, Gelatin
silver print.
[Collection Center for Creative Photography, The University
of Arizona#1998 Arizona Board of Regents]GUTMANN, JOHN