Jan Faul "Potomac : East and West" (portfolio of photoprints)
name: label: Creator
content: Faul, Jan, 1945-
place: label: Place
content: Washington (D.C.) -- 1990-2000
label: Place
content: West Virginia -- 1990-2000
label: Place
content: Virginia -- 1990-2000
label: Place
content: Maryland -- 1980-2000
label: Place
content: Potomac River -- 1990-2000
topic: label: Topic
content: Agricultural land -- 1990-2000
label: Topic
content: Rivers -- 1990-2000 -- United States
label: Topic
content: Commercial buildings -- 1990-2000
label: Topic
content: Cemeteries -- 1990-2000
label: Topic
content: Industrial complexes -- United States
label: Topic
content: Industrial towns -- 1990-2000
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Jan Faul, November 13, 1991.
creator: label: Creator
content: Faul, Jan, 1945-
setName: label: See more items in
content: Jan Faul "Potomac : East and West" (portfolio of photoprints)
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection is a set of twenty-four black-and-white silver gelatin prints entitled "Potomac: East and West," by Jan Faul, 1991. They include agricultural landscapes, cemeteries, industrial buildings commercial buildings in rural areas, etc., in the Potomac River region of Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Each image contains a small area hand-colored by the photographer, providing a subtly mysterious, often whimsical or humorous effect.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Jan Faul was born in Port Chester, New York in 1945.  His family moved frequently, living in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Denver, Toronto, Strasbourg, and Bern, Switzerland.  In Bern he received his first camera as a gift for his fourteenth birthday.  He returned to the United States and completed high school in Washington.

In his late teens Faul met Roy Stryker, legendary director of the Farm Security Administration documentary photography project, who suggested that he spend time looking at photographs in the Library of Congress  which he did, concentrating on the F.S.A. files.  Influenced by his artist parents, Faul studied art history and graphics in college, hoping to become a printmaker, but had begun to support himself with photography by the time he graduated from The George Washington University in 1969.

The "immediacy" of photography and other aesthetic considerations  in addition to the financial ones  finally led to Faul's abandonment of printmaking and commitment to photography.  Since 1970 he has been a self employed photographer, working in landscape, still life, and portraiture.  He documented the lives of poor people in the U.S. from July 1970 to March 1971 for the Office of Economic Opportunity.  In summer 1971 he photographed scenes of rural poverty for the Appalachian Regional Commission.  A grant from the Upjohn Institute for American Labor Studies in 1974 supported his photographic documentation of American workers and changing work habits.  In the summer of 1975 he worked for the Smithsonian, portraying the locksmen and pilots of the St. Lawrence Seaway.  Further grants and contracts for documentary photography followed, including the 1976 Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife.

Faul moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1979, and there worked on commercial accounts for Esso, Polaroid, and others, while continuing to pursue a variety of personal photographic projects.  He returned to the Washington, D.C., area a decade later.

The photographer's career has included commercial work and contractual documentary projects, as well as the sale of photographic prints as art to private collectors and sales and donations to institutions.  Fourteen photographs were donated to the Division of Photographic History of this Museum in 1970, and his work is in the collections of the Royal Museum of Art in Denmark, The Library of Congress, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, George Eastman House, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Oakland Museum, and others.  He has received a number of awards, and has been included in a number of group and solo exhibitions.  He has received an artist's residency at Yaddo for 1992 1993.
 
Additional biographical information, including a bibliography, is on file in the Archives Center.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.3 Cubic feet (1 box)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1991
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: The photographs were taken and the prints were made in 1991. This portfolio, number 6 in an edition of 45, was printed especially for donation to the Archives Center.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0441
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Topographical views
label: Type
content: Manipulated photographs
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Painted photographs
label: Type
content: Hand coloring
label: Type
content: Landscapes (representations)
label: Type
content: Portfolios (groups of works)
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into one series. Sequence arranged by artist: numbered I-XII, XIV-XXV (no number XIII).
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by David Haberstich, 1992.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Topographical views
label: Genre/Form
content: Manipulated photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 1990-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Painted photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Hand coloring
label: Genre/Form
content: Landscapes (representations) -- 1990-2000 -- United States
label: Genre/Form
content: Portfolios (groups of works) -- 1990-2000
originalsloc: label: Existence and Location of Originals
content: Original negatives with Jan Faul.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection is a set of twenty-four black-and-white silver gelatin prints entitled "Potomac: East and West," and is number six in an edition of forty five.  The photographs all were taken in 1991 and the prints were made shortly thereafter.  The photographs are basically somewhat romantic documentary images of locales in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia, including landscapes and industrial settings, interiors and exteriors, some of which are apparently abandoned.  Human figures are seen only incidentally in several images.  Each print has a small area hand colored by the artist, usually adding subtle humor and/or a hint of mystery.  The titles are brief and geographical, and the set is numbered I to XII and XIV to XXV; there is no number XIII, the artist was careful to point out.