J. R. Wharton Eyerman (9 November 1906 – 7 December 1985) was an American photographer and

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

Early life

Eyerman was born in his parents'

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the 2 ...

photography studio. In a biographical vignette that ''Life'' often published on their photographers and writers on the title page, he explained, in verse, that the mysterious letters preceding his surname were not initials for any actual names; He left Butte to study civil engineering at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in Seattle.

Life magazine

Eyerman was on staff for ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' magazine from 1942 to 1961. He covered

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

for ''Life'' on the European and Pacific fronts. He once said Among his most famous photographs is the oft-reproduced long-shot of movie audience members all wearing 3-D glasses while watching the premiere of ''

Bwana Devil ''Bwana Devil'' is a 1952 American adventure B movie written, directed, and produced by Arch Oboler, and starring Robert Stack, Barbara Britton, and Nigel Bruce. ''Bwana Devil'' is based on the true story of the Tsavo maneaters and filmed wi ...

'' in Hollywood in November 1952. Such visual repetition was a favorite device; another example is Eyerman's expansive aerial shot for ''Life'' of multiple moving vans simultaneously emptying furniture into newly built houses on a Lakeview suburban street that stretches to the horizon, while his picture of a receding crowd of engineers at their drafting tables in a vast office space was selected by curator

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (; March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter and curator and a pioneer of fashion photography. His gown images for the magazine ''Art et Décoration'' in 1911 were the first modern ...

for the world-touring

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 ...

exhibition ''

The Family of Man ''The Family of Man'' was an ambitious exhibition of 503 photographs from 68 countries curated by Edward Steichen, the director of the New York City Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) department of photography. According to Steichen, the exhibitio ...

'' that was seen by 9 million visitors. Previously, at MoMA, Eyerman had contributed to ''Memorable Life Photographs'', November 20 – December 12, 1951; and ''Korea - The Impact of War in Photographs'', February 13 – April 22, 1951, in which five of his

G.I. G.I. is an informal term that refers to "a soldier in the United States armed forces, especially the army". It is most deeply associated with World War II, but continues to see use. It was originally an initialism used in U.S. Army paperwork f ...

portraits were shown; and later his work appeared in ''Photographs from the Museum Collection'', November 26, 1958 – January 18, 1959, also at the Museum of Modern Art.Museum of Modern Art, Exhibitions record for J. R. Eyerman
/ref> He left ''Life'' in 1961 to work for ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'', and several medical magazines.Los Angeles Times obituary; 'Photographer J. R. Eyerman Dies' December 07, 1985
/ref>

Technical innovations

After opening his own

structural engineering Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and joints' that create the form and shape of human-made Structure#Load-bearing, structures. Structural engineers also ...

firm in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, he developed new tools to photograph in difficult situations. In his 1957 book, author Stanley Rayfield noted that

Death

Eyerman died of

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

and heart failure at his home in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

References

External links

Link to all ''Life'' magazine-hosted pictures of J. R. Eyerman

Photo of audience in 3-D glasses
1906 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American journalists American male journalists American photojournalists Deaths from kidney failure in California Journalists from Montana Life (magazine) photojournalists People from Butte, Montana American structural engineers University of Washington College of Engineering alumni {{US-photographer-stub