312.15.11.6.4

Jan Groover was an American photographer originally from Plainfield, New Jersey. Groover was particularly interested in the relationship between the world as we know it and the world as it was composed through the lens of her camera. She focused on eliminating the presence of the photographer in her images to create a direct line of communication between the viewer and the subject matter. It wasn’t until Groover was asked to participate in the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s Bicentennial Project The Nation’s Capital in Photographs in 1976 that she began experimenting with altering her position as opposed remaining stationary in order to achieve this effect. Groover’s images were notably the only works to be displayed in color for the bicentennial show. The images attempt to alter one’s perception of the pre-existing world through the placement of an intrusive object in the foreground and the positioning of the camera. Groover’s composition of quintessential D.C. elements places a magnolia tree in the foreground as the intrusive object with D.C. architecture and a statue in the background. Those who called D.C. home, or who are visiting, are offered a fresh perspective on the environment in which they inhabit.

Susan Kismaric (Author), Jan Groover (Exh. cat.), Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1987, p. [11]

Roy Slade (Author), The Corcoran and Washington Art (Exh. cat.), Garamond/Pridemark Press, Baltimore, 1976, p. 26

Jane Livingston (Author) and Roy Slade (Further author), Jan Groover (The Nation’s Capital in Photographs, 1976: Jan Groover) (Exh. cat.), Corcoran Gallery of Art, printed by Rapoport Printing Corporation, Washington, D.C., New York, 1976, p. [2], cat. no. 17; ill. 17 (black and white)

HOME: Selections from the Corcoran Study Collection, Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, Washington DC, November 14, 2019 - March 13, 2020

The Nation's Capital in Photographs, 1976: Jan Groover, Corcoran Gallery of Art [1869-2014], Washington DC, September 24, 1976 - November 21, 1976