Jack Delano

Jack Delano ( born August 1, 1914 in Woroschilowka, Ukraine; † August 12, 1997 in Puerto Rico ) was an American photographer and composer. He is best known for his photos of the Farm Security Administration (FSA ) and its compositions using Puerto Rican folklore.

Life

Jack Delano was born in Woroschilowka in Ukraine as Jacob Oftscharow. In 1923 he emigrated with his parents and younger brother to the United States. From 1924 to 1935 he studied viola and composition at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia and solfège at the Curtis Institute. An art scholarship he was able to study from 1932 to 1937 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Illustration. During a European study tour of a Cresson Scholarship, he earned a camera and began to take an interest in photography.

After the end of his studies, he worked as a freelance photographer and documentary filmmaker. A photo project he submitted with the Federal Arts Program of the Works Progress Administration. He documented the illegal anthracite mining in Schuylkill County in Pennsylvania. The head of the Farm Security Administration Roy Stryker became aware of his work and made Delano 1940, a contract offer as a photographer for a salary of $ 2,300 a year. In 1941 he traveled under an FSA project to Puerto Rico. This trip meant that he took up his residence on the island since 1946. As of November 1942, he photographed, among others, the freight on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the Chicago and North Western Railway. We are especially famous its color photographs of the railway workers of that time. 1943 Delano was finally convened. During his military service he was in the South Pacific and South America go.

On behalf of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, he created in 1946 a photo documentary about the living conditions in Puerto Rico. Due to her friendship with Luis Munoz Marin, who later became governor of the island, they began to engage in the fight against illiteracy. He produced from 1946 to 1952 together with his wife Irene for the People's Board of Education seven films, some he wrote the screenplay. After the end of his career, he began to be interested in the folk art and folk music of Puerto Rico. From 1957 to 1969 he was deputy program director at the radio station WIPR.

From the late 1950s he began reinforced with his compositional work. His musical work includes a wide variety of forms. He wrote orchestral music, ballets, chamber music, choral and solo songs. In his work he used many times the lyrics of his friend and collaborator Tomás Blanco.

Along with Blanco and his wife, he published from 1970 children's books that he illustrated. After the death of his wife in 1982, he began traveling to his photography exhibit and perform his musical works.

Works

  • Ofrenda Musical for Viola, Horn and Strings ( 1959)
  • El sabio Doctor Mambu, Kinderbalett (1962 )
  • Concertino Classico for C trumpet and small orchestra (1968 )
  • Sinfonietta for String Orchestra ( 1983)
  • Sonata in A Minor for Viola and Piano (1953 )
  • Sonata for Violin ( 1960)
  • Sonatine for Flute (1965 )
  • String Quartet (1984 )
  • Tres Preludios for piano (1985 )
  • Esta luna it mía for soprano, female choir and piano (1962 ); Text by José P.H. Hernández
  • Me voy a Ponce for mixed chorus ( 1965); Text by José Agustín Balseiro
  • Tres cancioncitas del mar for medium voice and piano ( 1969); Texts of Nimia Vicens, esters Feliciano Mendoza and Carmelina Vizcarrondo
  • Cuatro sones de la tierra for soprano and piano (1974); Texts by Tomás Blanco
  • PETALO de rosa, suite for children's choir ( 1993)
  • Los Peloteros ( 1953) ( movie about poor Puerto Rican children and their enthusiasm for baseball)
  • Tenants of the almighty (1943 )
  • Portrait of a decade (1972 )
  • In this proud country (1973 )
  • A shared vision (1976 )
  • Puerto Rico Mio: Four Decades of Change in Photographs (1990 ), ISBN 978-0874743890
  • En busca del Maestro Rafael Cordero / In search of The Master Rafael Cordero (1994 ), ISBN 978-0847700806
  • Superfortress over Japan: Twenty- Four Hours With a B- 29: 24 with a B-29 Field ( 1996), ISBN 978-0879389765
  • That's Life / Asi Es La Vida (1996 ), ISBN 978-0847702473
  • Photographic Memories: The Autobiography of Jack Delano (1997), ISBN 978-1560987413
Curtis Institute of Music Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Integrated Authority File
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