Jan Groover:
April 24, 1943 – January 1, 2012
1. Personal Background: Jan Groover was an American photographer who was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. She married Bruce Boice who was a painter critic. She received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute and her Master of Arts from Ohio State University. In 1978 her most famous work was her still lifes of objects in her kitchen. In 1979 she received a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. Her work has been exhibited in Baltimore Museum of Art; Cleveland Museum of Art; the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and the International Museum of Photography. She then moved to France in 1991.
2. Style:
Jan Groover’s work has been seen as postmodern photography. Her most famous work was her kitchen still lifes. She emphasized many shapes and shadows. When she used kitchen utensils she arranged them to look abstract. Groover’s photography really focused on structure and space. Some of her still lifes look like oil paintings.
3. Philosophy:
One of Jan Groover’s major ideas was shape. She really wanted to emphasize formalism. Groover wanted to show how you can create different shapes in photos. Jan mostly experimented with space and illusion. She once said it doesn’t matter what the objects mean in her still lifes; the shape, color, and texture matter.
4. Influences:
Jan Groover’s work really influenced me to be more creative in still lifes. Her work showed me you can really create interesting pictures with different objects. She made me pay attention to details on shapes and shadows. Jan Groover influenced me to take still lifes in various angles because it can make a photo really interesting. She showed how everyday objects can make photos really stand out.
5. Sources:
Jan Groover: Untitled Arielle: Forest Tea
http://www.artnet.com/artists/jan-groover
/untitled-from-the-kitchen-zX6T53JZWha
-pRy9GiRvhw2
Jan Groover: Untitled Arielle:Flower Knives
http://janetbordeninc.com/artist/jan-groover/
Jan Groover:Untitled Arielle: Stainless Steal
https://www.moma.org/collection/
works/51061?locale=en
6. Compare and Contrast:
You will need to compare and contrast your final 3 images with the 3 images you choose by your photographer. Write about each piece (5 sentence.)
The first image is one of Jan Groover’s photos from her kitchen still lifes. The first photo is a cup with two forks, one on top the other is on the bottom. It has colorful leaves surrounding it. In my photo it has one spoon and it’s on top of a tea cup. Instead of leaves I put in yellow flowers and tiny green leaves. The second photo is also a kitchen still life. It has forks and spoons spread around with small silver cups. It also has two peppers. In my photo I put various knives around instead of forks and spoons. I put in yellow flowers and limes in place of silver cups and peppers. The third photo of Jan Groover is a close up of different silver utensils. There is forks and a small spatula on a bowl. I recreated the photo by using 2 knives and 2 forks on top of a glass bowl.
7. Personal Artist Statement:
My first photo is a spoon on top of cup surrounded by yellow flowers and tiny green leaves. I used the emphasis principle by surrounding the spoon with the leaves and flowers. My second photo has different knives spread around with yellow flowers and green limes. I used organic shapes which is the flowers with the knives. The knives, flowers, and limes gave contrast to the photo. The third photo are close ups of different silver utensils. It has a sense of unity because all of them are used in the kitchen and they are silver.