Chauncey Hare
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Chauncey Hare (June 19, 1934 – May 12, 2019) was an American
photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...
who began his working life as a petroleum engineer for
Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...
. He became a
fine-art photographer Fine-art photography is photography created in line with the vision of the photographer as artist, using photography as a medium for creative expression. The goal of fine-art photography is to express an idea, a message, or an emotion. This stand ...
known for his photographs of people living in 1970s American residential interiors, workplaces, and office spaces.


Work

In 1969, 1971, and 1976 Hare was awarded photography fellowships by the
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...
. In 1975, 1978, and 1982 he was awarded photography fellowships by the
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...
. In 1977 Hare stopped working as a petroleum engineer after twenty-one years at what became a
Chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock la ...
refinery in Richmond, California and enrolled in the MFA program in photography at the
San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...
. That same year the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
in New York exhibited Hare's photographs in a show entitled ''Interior America''. The next year, Aperture published a book of the same name and by the early 1980s other museums including the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...
had featured Hare's photographs in exhibitions. In 1985, Hare abandoned photography and returned to school, becoming a
therapist A therapist is a person who offers any kinds of therapy. Therapists are trained professionals in the field of any types of services like psychologists, social workers, counselors, etc. They are helpful in counseling individuals for various mental ...
. As a therapist he published ''Work Abuse: How to Recognize and Survive It'' in 1997. Hare's photography books include ''Interior America'' (1978), ''This Was Corporate America'' (1984), and the expanded edition of the former, ''Protest Photographs'' (2008). In ''Diana & Nikon, Essays on the Aesthetic of Photography,''
Janet Malcolm Janet Clara Malcolm (born Jana Klara Wienerová; July 8, 1934 – June 16, 2021) was an American writer, staff journalist at ''The New Yorker'' magazine, and collagist who fled antisemitic persecution in Nazi-occupied Prague. She was the author ...
describes how even Hare's most mundane photographs, "quiver" with meaning "so that everything stands for something else." She saw a link between his careers, noting that he arranged his photographic subjects the way a therapist does, using free association. Malcom argued for the importance of "Chauncey Hare’s acid portrayal of late-twentieth-century America, writing that "Hare enters the homes that
Robert Frank Robert Frank (November 9, 1924 – September 9, 2019) was a Swiss American photographer and documentary filmmaker. His most notable work, the 1958 book titled ''The Americans'', earned Frank comparisons to a modern-day de Tocqueville for his ...
sped by when taking the pictures fo
''The Americans''.
The British writer Tim Adams, in a 2022 ''Guardian'' photo essay, called "The Big Picture: The Pursuit of Happiness in Playland California," notes that Hare himself saw his psychoanalytic work as "the antithesis of his art," yet "the two strands of his life both flash-lit the alienating values of the consumerist US and the promise of the pursuit of happiness in suburbia". In 2021,
Robert Slifkin The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...
published ''Quitting Your Day Job: Chauncey Hare's Photographic Work.'' It has been noted in press that his workplace photography was a protest against what Hare saw as exploitative and inhumane working practices. Slifkin also writes that between 1968 and 1972, Hare frequently photographed Playland, an
amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...
near his home in Richmond, California. Exploring many aspects of Hare's life, the book notes "the ways in which his work continues to resonate with contemporary concerns about the reach of corporations into everyday life, documentary photography's longstanding complicity with the politics of liberal guilt, and art's vexed relation to elite channels of power."https://www.mackbooks.us/products/quitting-your-day-job-chauncey-hare-s-photographic-work-br-robert-slifkin


Publications


Photography

*''Interior America.'' New York City:
Aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...
, 1978. . With an introduction by Hare. *''This Was Corporate America.'' Boston: Institute of Contemporary Art, 1984. . *''Protest Photographs.'' Göttingen, Germany:
Steidl Steidl is a German-language publisher based in Göttingen, Germany. Founded in 1968 by Gerhard Steidl, it publishes photobooks. Overview The company was started by Gerhard Steidl.Bill Kouwenhoven, "Off to see the wizard", ''British Journa ...
, 2008. . With an introduction by Hare.


Therapy

* ''Work Abuse: How to Recognize and Survive It'' (1997)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hare, Chauncey American fine art photographers Photographers from New York (state) People from Niagara Falls, New York 20th-century American photographers Place of birth missing 2019 deaths 1934 births