# John Gutmann

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{{short description|German-American photographer and painter}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = John Gutmann
| birth_date       = 1905
| birth_place      = [Breslau](/source/Breslau), [German Empire](/source/German_Empire) (now [Poland](/source/Poland))
| death_date       = {{death date|1998|06|12}}
| death_place      = [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco), [United States](/source/United_States)
| resting_place    = San Francisco
| field            = [Painting](/source/Painting), [Photography](/source/Photography)
| training         = Breslau and Berlin, with [Otto Mueller](/source/Otto_Mueller)
| movement         = [American realism](/source/American_realism)
| spouse           = Gerrie von Pribosic
}}

'''John Gutmann''' (1905 – June 12, 1998) was a [German](/source/Germany)-born [American](/source/United_States) [photographer](/source/photographer) and [painter](/source/Painting).

==Early life and education==
Gutmann was born in 1905 in [Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland)](/source/Wroc%C5%82aw) to an upper-middle-class Jewish family. He earned a degree in art from [Staatliche Akademie für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe Breslau](/source/Staatliche_Akademie_f%C3%BCr_Kunst_und_Kunstgewerbe_Breslau) and moved to Berlin in 1927, earning a post-graduate degree at Preussisches Shulkollegium for Hohere Erziehung.<ref name=SFE-980613>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/style/article/John-Gutmann-photographer-as-outsider-3084973.php |title=John Gutmann, photographer as outsider |author=Bonetti, David |date=13 June 1998 |newspaper=San Francisco Examiner |accessdate=19 January 2018}}</ref><ref name=SFC-980617>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/John-Gutmann-3003199.php |title=John Gutmann |author=Schwartz, Stephen |date=17 June 1998 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |accessdate=19 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.johngutmann.org/chronology.html |title=John Gutmann: Chronology |website=johngutmann.org |accessdate=19 January 2018}}</ref>

==Career==
{{quote|text=Berlin was the greatest city in the world when I lived there - in the late 1920s, early 1930s. It was the most sophisticated, the most decadent city, and it attracted the most powerful assembly of creative talents in the world. The greatest theater, movies, art. Everyone was there ... <br/><br/>[San Francisco was] very refreshing to me. I had had enough of art with a capital A, culture with a capital K. It was liberating to come to a place so backward in art and aesthetics.|author=John Gutmann |source=1989 ''San Francisco Examiner'' profile<ref name=SFE-980613 />}}

Being Jewish, he was unable to exhibit his paintings or get a job teaching in [Nazi Germany](/source/Nazi_Germany), and so he emigrated to the [United States](/source/United_States), arriving in [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco) in late 1933.<ref name=SFE-980613/> Gutmann reinvented himself as a photographer before he left Germany, purchasing a [Rolleiflex](/source/Rolleiflex) and signing a photojournalism contract with Presse-Photo in 1933. He continued to work as a photojournalist for Presse-Photo from the West Coast until he signed on with [PIX](/source/PIX_Publishing) in 1936, an agency he worked with until 1962.<ref name=SFC-980617 /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://digital.library.ryerson.ca/islandora/object/RULA%3A4191/datastream/OBJ/download/The_Klinsky_Press_Agency_Finding_Aid_at_the_Art_Gallery_of_Ontario.pdf |author=Renwick, Brenda |title=Klinsky Archive: Notes on Photographers |publisher=AGO Internal Report |date=2006 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=NYT-980617>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/17/arts/john-gutmann-93-painter-who-became-a-photographer.html |title=John Gutmann, 93, Painter Who Became a Photographer |author=Loke, Margarett |date=17 June 1998 |newspaper=The New York Times |accessdate=19 January 2018}}</ref>

After arriving in San Francisco, one of the first news stories he documented was the [1934 West Coast waterfront strike](/source/1934_West_Coast_waterfront_strike).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bonetti |first=David |title=John Gutmann, photographer as outsider |url=https://www.sfgate.com/style/article/John-Gutmann-photographer-as-outsider-3084973.php |access-date=2024-02-03 |work=SFGATE |language=en}}</ref> His work on other stories was later published in popular contemporary newsmagazines such as [''Time''](/source/Time_(magazine)), [''Look''](/source/Look_(American_magazine)), and ''[The Saturday Evening Post](/source/The_Saturday_Evening_Post)''.<ref name=SFC-980617 /> Some of his photographs of the [Golden Gate International Exposition](/source/Golden_Gate_International_Exposition) were published in [''Life''](/source/Life_(magazine)) in 1939.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lU0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA11 |title=San Francisco opens its Golden Gate Exposition with wild west wallop |date=6 March 1939 |volume=6 |number=10 |magazine=Life |pages=11–15; 77 |accessdate=19 January 2018}}</ref> At the same time, he started teaching at [San Francisco State College](/source/San_Francisco_State_University) in 1936 and founded the photography department there in 1946.<ref name=SFC-980617 />

In between, Gutmann served with the [United States Office of War Information](/source/United_States_Office_of_War_Information) during World War II.<ref name=NYT-980617 />

Gutmann taught at SF State until 1973.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bonetti |first=David |title=John Gutmann, photographer as outsider |url=https://www.sfgate.com/style/article/John-Gutmann-photographer-as-outsider-3084973.php |access-date=2024-02-03 |work=SFGATE |language=en}}</ref> While working there, he founded the creative photography program using the Bauhaus model.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bonetti |first=David |title=John Gutmann, photographer as outsider |url=https://www.sfgate.com/style/article/John-Gutmann-photographer-as-outsider-3084973.php |access-date=2024-02-03 |work=SFGATE |language=en}}</ref> After his retirement, he began printing images from his archives, and began exhibiting his work at the [Fraenkel Gallery](/source/Fraenkel_Gallery) and [Castelli Graphics](/source/Leo_Castelli) in the late 1970s. His work was later packaged into a traveling exhibition, "Beyond the Document", which moved from SFMOMA to the [Museum of Modern Art](/source/Museum_of_Modern_Art) and [Los Angeles County Museum of Art](/source/Los_Angeles_County_Museum_of_Art) starting in 1989.<ref name=SFE-980613 />

==Style==
Gutmann's main subject matter was the American way of life, especially the [Jazz](/source/Jazz) music scene. Gutmann is recognized for his unique "[worm's-eye view](/source/worm's-eye_view)" camera angle.{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}

{{quote|text=I photographed the popular culture of the United States differently from American photographers. I saw the enormous vitality of the country. I didn't see it as suffering. The urban photographers here took pictures that showed the negative side of the Depression, but my pictures show the almost bizarre, exotic qualities of the country. ... I was seeing America with an outsider's eyes - the automobiles, the speed, the freedom, the graffiti ...|author=John Gutmann |source=1989 ''San Francisco Examiner'' profile<ref name=SFE-980613 />}}

He enjoyed taking photos of ordinary things and making them seem special.<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_press-release_332956.pdf |title=John Gutmann: Beyond the Document |date=April 1990 |publisher=The Museum of Modern Art |accessdate=19 January 2018 |quote=His photographs are conditioned by his ability to sense the apparent strangeness of his subjects and to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.}}</ref> Kenneth Baker, art critic for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', wrote in 1997 that Gutmann was "an emissary of European modernism" who "brought a distinct angle of vision to the American scene" and his images demonstrated his "excitement of his witness to the [Depression-era] times".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Goldin-s-Friends-on-View-Self-involved-photos-2849258.php |title=Goldin's Friends on view / Self-involved photos at Fraenkel |author=Baker, Kenneth |date=15 March 1997 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |accessdate=19 January 2018 |quote=But not everyone is aware that he founded the photography program at San Francisco State University, where he taught for many years. In recognition of his contribution to the school's arts programs, SFSU has staged a retrospective of his work titled "Parallels in Focus."<br/>{{pad|1.0em}}As a recent immigrant and an emissary of European modernism, Gutmann brought a distinct angle of vision to the American scene, reflected literally in famous images like "Elevator Garage" (1937) and "From the North Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge" (1947).<br/>{{pad|1.0em}}The excitement of his witness to the times is felt in almost every image, but it may be most vivid in a 1934 ferryboat view of the Golden Gate, empty of all but the north tower of the bridge.}}</ref> [David Bonetti](/source/David_Bonetti), art critic for the ''San Francisco Examiner'', called Gutmann's output from the 1930s "his best–when, a young Jewish refugee, he experienced America as a bemused stranger in a strange land. Gutmann fell in love with Depression-era America, which he traveled by Greyhound Bus Line. He saw its cars, its rites and festival, its athletes, its women, its vibrant African American communities and its dynamic street life with European eyes."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Rodin-exhibition-worth-weight-in-bronze-3071514.php |title=Rodin exhibition worth its weight in bronze |author=Bonetti, David |date=3 March 2000 |newspaper=San Francisco Examiner |accessdate=19 January 2018}}</ref>

==Awards==
Gutmann received a [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship) in 1977.<ref name=SFC-980617 />

==Legacy==
He created the John Gutmann Photography Fellowship Award, through the [San Francisco Foundation](/source/San_Francisco_Foundation).

The full archive of Gutmann's work is located at the [Center for Creative Photography](/source/Center_for_Creative_Photography) (CCP) at the [University of Arizona](/source/University_of_Arizona) in [Tucson](/source/Tucson%2C_Arizona), which also manages the copyright of his work.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.creativephotography.org/files/cp-john-gutmann.pdf |title=Conditions for Publications of Photographs by John Gutmann |publisher=Center for Creative Photography |accessdate=19 January 2018}}</ref>

In his obituary, [SFGate](/source/SFGate) remembered him as a "leading photojournalist of the Depression era, a painter and an art instructor at San Francisco State University."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bonetti |first=David |title=John Gutmann, photographer as outsider |url=https://www.sfgate.com/style/article/John-Gutmann-photographer-as-outsider-3084973.php |access-date=2024-02-03 |work=SFGATE |language=en}}</ref> His wife Gerry, who was also a painter, died before he did.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bonetti |first=David |title=John Gutmann, photographer as outsider |url=https://www.sfgate.com/style/article/John-Gutmann-photographer-as-outsider-3084973.php |access-date=2024-02-03 |work=SFGATE |language=en}}</ref> Guttmann requested at his death that no service be held and that instead memorial donations be collected to benefit the John Guttmann fund (which is managed by the San Francisco Foundation).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bonetti |first=David |title=John Gutmann, photographer as outsider |url=https://www.sfgate.com/style/article/John-Gutmann-photographer-as-outsider-3084973.php |access-date=2024-02-03 |work=SFGATE |language=en}}</ref> 

== Collections (selected) ==
Gutmann's work is held in the following permanent public collections:
* [Addison Gallery of American Art](/source/Addison_Gallery_of_American_Art), Andover, Massachusetts
* [Art Institute of Chicago](/source/Art_Institute_of_Chicago)
* [Cantor Arts Center](/source/Cantor_Arts_Center), [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University)
* [Cleveland Museum of Art](/source/Cleveland_Museum_of_Art), Ohio
* [Figge Art Museum](/source/Figge_Art_Museum), Davenport, Iowa
* [Fotomuseum Winterthur](/source/Fotomuseum_Winterthur), Switzerland
* [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art), [New York City](/source/New_York_City)
* Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
* [Rijksmuseum Amsterdam](/source/Rijksmuseum_Amsterdam)<ref>[https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/search?p=1&ps=12&maker=John%20Gutmann Collection Rijksmuseum]</ref>
* San Diego Museum of Art<ref>{{Cite web |title=San Diego Museum of Art Login |url=https://collection.sdmart.org/artist-maker/info/2401?artistName=John%20Gutmann |access-date=2025-07-21 |website=collection.sdmart.org}}</ref>
* [San Francisco Museum of Modern Art](/source/San_Francisco_Museum_of_Modern_Art)

== Exhibitions (selected)==
<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.johngutmann.org/exhibitions.html |title=exhibitions |accessdate=15 November 2016}}</ref>
* 1941: ''Wondrous World'', Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco.
* 1941: ''Image of Freedom'', The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
* 1947: ''The Face of the Orient'', Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco.
* 1974: ''John Gutmann'', Light Gallery, New York.
* 1976: ''as i  saw it'', San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
* 1985: ''Gutmann'', Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
* 1990: ''Talking Pictures, 1934-1989'', Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles.
* 1998: ''John Gutmann, Rastlosese Amerika der 30er Jahre'', Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland.
* 2000: ''John Gutmann: Photographer/Collector'', [Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco](/source/Fine_Arts_Museums_of_San_Francisco).<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Gutmann: Photographer/Collector |url=https://www.famsf.org/exhibitions/john-gutmann-photographercollector |access-date=2025-10-12 |website=FAMSF |language=en}}</ref>
* 2025: ''John Gutmann & Max Yavno'': ''California Photographers'', [San Diego Museum of Art](/source/The_San_Diego_Museum_of_Art), San Diego.<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Gutmann & Max Yavno: California Photographers |url=https://www.sdmart.org/exhibition/john-gutmann-max-yavno-california-photographers/ |access-date=2025-07-21 |website=San Diego Museum of Art |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Monographs (selected)==
* {{cite book |title=The Restless Decade: John Gutmann's Photographs of the Thirties |author1=Gutmann, John |author2=Kozloff, Max |date=May 1984 |publisher=Harry N. Abrams |isbn=978-0810916586 }}
* {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781858940977 |title=Culture Shock: The Photography of John Gutmann |author1=Gutmann, John |author2=Phillips, Sandra S. |date=March 2000 |publisher=Merrell |location=London, England |isbn=978-1858940977 |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |title=John Gutmann: The Photographer at Work |author1=Gutmann, John |author2=Stein, Sally |date=22 September 2009 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=978-0300123319 }}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite web |url=https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/John_Gutmann |title=John Gutmann |publisher=San Francisco Museum of Modern Art |accessdate=19 January 2018}}
* {{cite web |url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2109 |title=John Gutmann: Beyond the Document |date=April–July 1990 |publisher=Museum of Modern Art |accessdate=19 January 2018}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutmann, John}}
Category:1905 births
Category:1998 deaths
Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States
Category:20th-century American photographers
Category:Artists from San Francisco
Category:San Francisco State University faculty
Category:People of the United States Office of War Information

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [John Gutmann](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gutmann) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gutmann?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.