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John Gutmann: A World of Photography
Photography is one of the most appreciated creative fields. It opens your heart and soul through the mind's eye as you view images from nearby to places far away. You can travel without ever leaving your home by viewing the works of many groundbreaking photographers. John Gutmann is one such photographer.
Born in Breslau, Germany, John Gutmann initially studied art under the Master Expressionist Otto Mueller. He loved what he could produce through his paintings and by 1927, he was exhibiting his work at Schlesischer Kunsterbund and the Museum der Bildenden Kuntse in Breslau. John Gutmann traveled Europe after receiving is MA degree in 1928. He had a very promising career as an artists and professor until, in 1933, Hitler invaded Germany. Being the son of a well-off Jewish family, John Guttman's world began crashing around him. He decided to migrate to the United States and a friend of his suggested heading to San Francisco. Prior to his departure, Gutmann purchased a camera, self-taught the medium by reading the owner's manual and began work as a photojournalist. He signed on with Presse-Foto in Berlin with the idea of shooting images in America.
As he arrived in San Francisco, John Gutmann was struck with awe at the many diverse scenes that layout, a story in waiting, in front of him. Coming from a country that was being torn apart in war and his own kind being carted off to concentration camps, he was amazed by the people from different backgrounds living side by side with each other. He brought the experience of his keen foreign eye into play and photographed life as it happened. Images from the 30s through the 50s brought us the every man as Americans enjoyed life as best they could through the depression and World War. Cars, signs, clothing and street life told the story of time. Gutmann captured the essence of any given moment, cropping the images for maximum effect. He didn't really give up his art, either, he was on display staring in 1934, and by the following year, he began teaching part time art at San Francisco State College.
For a span f decades, from the 1930s to the 1960s, Gutmann's work proliferated such publications as The Saturday Evening Post, Life, and Time. All applauded his works. In the 40s, he was a staff photographer for "The Dispatch" at Camp Roberts, California as he served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps using still and motion pictures. He went on to serve in Asia on the Psychological Warfare Team. By 1946 he was back home in San Francisco and began teaching photography at the University. His audience was captured by the sheer simplistic power of his images. He was "seeing American through an outsider's eyes - the automobiles, the speed, the freedom, the graffiti," John explained the 80s, "[recorded] the almost bizarre, exotic qualities of the country." This is how he was given his groundbreaking reputation.
Continuing his career as a professor and world traveler, Gutmann enjoyed an active life. He worked to catch every laugh, tear, flash, and triumph. His mind's eye found beauty in garages, concerts, festivals, and the common passers-by. John Gutmann's photographs were published many times over as we became entangled in his web of images and life. He passed away in 1998 with his estate being handled by the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
About the Author If you are interested in finding out more about John Gutmann's photography, or if you are interested in leaning more about how to makegin a career in photography follow the links to new possibilities.
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