John Gutmann was born to prosperous German-Jewish parents, in Breslau, Germany (since 1945, Wrocław, Poland). At age twenty-two, he graduated from the regional Academy of Arts and Crafts, where he studied with leading Expressionist painter Otto Müller. In 1927 Gutmann moved to Berlin, where he taught art to schoolchildren, participated in group exhibitions, and in 1931 had a solo show at the prestigious Gurlitt Gallery. However, his career was interrupted by the rise to power of the National Socialists in early 1933.
Before departing Germany to flee the Nazis, he acquired a Rolleiflex camera, hastily shot three rolls of film, and managed to secure a contract from the Berlin office of Presse-Photo.
While his family made plans to immigrate to New York, Gutmann set out on his own with San Francisco as his destination, and photography as his new profession.
Making the most of a bad situation, he explored a new life as a foreign correspondent who would supply the very modern European illustrated press with views and reports from the American West.
His work was notably modernist, and his Depression-era photographs were later praised by San Francisco Chronicle critic Kenneth Baker for their “distinct angle of vision.”
His work on other stories was later published in popular contemporary newsmagazines such as Time, Look, and The Saturday Evening Post. Some of his photographs of the Golden Gate International Exposition were published in Life in 1939. At the same time, he started teaching at San Francisco State College in 1936 and founded the photography department there in 1946. It was one of the first such programs at an American college.
John Gutmann
Select Photographs
January 15 – March 31, 2022
Janet Sirmon Fine Art
3371 Glendale Blvd., #493
Los Angeles, CA 90039
https://www.sirmonfineart.com
Goodbye Berlin, 1933 by John Gutmann
Omen, 1934 by John Gutmann
The Fleet is in, San Francisco, 1934 by John Gutmann
“Yes, Columbus Did Discover America!” San Francisco, 1938 by John Gutmann
Self Portrait, Looking at North Beach and Bay, San Francisco, 1934 by John Gutmann
October, Berlin, 1933 by John Gutmann
