W

JEFF WALL

Canadian

With his characteristic large-scale color transpar-
encies presented in light boxes, Jeff Wall has been a
pioneer of postmodern photography. Presenting
elaborate set-up situations, through the use of
‘‘actors,’’ costumes, make-up, lighting effects, and
more recently, digital manipulation, Wall’s photo-
graphs present imagined truths—scenes that seem
real because all the details seem authentic. His role
as an educator has made Canadian photography a
force in the late twentieth century.
Jeff Wall was born in Vancouver, British Colum-
bia in 1946. From the beginning, Wall had a strong
interest in art history and classical painting, and
devoted long hours to study. In 1962, Wall
attended the American art exhibition at the Seattle
World’s Fair, when he saw the work of painters
such as Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, and
Barnett Newman. This experience inspired Wall
to adopt an Abstract Expressionist approach in
his own work. He later was attracted to the possi-
bilities offered by Conceptual art while he studied
fine arts at the University of British Columbia, and
shifted away from painting in favor of textual
work, and ultimately, photography. Wall received

a B.A. Honours in 1968, and an M.A. in Art His-

tory in 1970.

While still a student, his work was shown in a

number of group exhibitions including955,000at

the Vancouver Art Gallery, curated by Lucy Lip-

pard, andPhoto Show, at the S.U.B. Gallery of the

University of British Columbia, curated by Chris-

tos Dikeakos, both in 1969.Photo Showpresented

the work of Vancouver artists such as Duane Lun-

den, Ian Wallace, and Wall in juxtaposition with

that of Dan Graham, Bruce Nauman, and Douglas

Huebler. Wall and Graham in particular had simi-

lar interests. They would become friends and had

occasion to collaborate in later years. In 1970, Wall

left Canada to pursue doctoral research at the

Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London.

For his master’s thesis, Wall concentrated on Da-

daism. In London, his doctoral studies addressed

the work of John Heartfield and Marcel Duchamp,

and during this time, he also studied Euge`ne Atget

and Paul Strand. Wall continued to explore his

lifelong interest in the cinema, and for a while he

was interested in a career as a film maker. He

stayed in London for three years, returning first

to Vancouver, and then taking a position in Hali-

fax, Nova Scotia, as Assistant Professor in the