John Bigelow Taylor (c. 1950) is a

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 ...

works of art A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Along with his wife Dianne Dubler, Taylor is known for publishing photographic

monographs A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

on a diverse range of subjects including architecture and interior design, as well as collections of jewelry and

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...

. His work has been described as "superb" by John Boardman of ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...

'' and "impressive" by Marie Arana-Ward of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''.

Career

In the early 1970s John Bigelow Taylor and his partner, Dianne Dubler, traveled throughout southern Asia; the couple documented the peoples, cultures and locations they encountered while traveling and living in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. After their travels in Asia, Taylor and Dubler were advised by their friend, ''Gillett Griffin'', then curator of

pre-Columbian art Pre-Columbian art refers to the Visual arts of indigenous peoples of the Americas, visual arts of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, North America, North, Central America, Central, and South Americas from at least 13,000 BCE to the European con ...

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 117,000 work ...

. to concentrate on the photography of works of art. Taylor and Dubler have stated that Griffin's encouragement and guidance greatly contributed to Taylor's career as a

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

photographer of art, antiquities and architecture. Taylor later collaborated with publisher Harry N. Abrams on several books including "Wisdom and Compassion : The Sacred Art of Tibet" (1991) featuring photographs of Tibetan sculpture,

tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art which was traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical pieces are intended to han ...

and

sand mandala Sand mandala (, THL ''kyinkhor''; ) is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of mandalas made from colored sand. Once complete, the sand mandala's ritualistic dismantling is accompanied by ceremonies and viewin ...

s, ''The Cycladic Spirit'' (1991) featuring

Cycladic art The ancient Cycladic culture flourished in the islands of the Aegean Sea from c. 3300 to 1100 BCE. Along with the Minoan civilization and Mycenaean Greece, the Cycladic people are counted among the three major Aegean cultures. Cycladic art there ...

from the Goulandris Collection in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, ''The White House Collection of American Crafts'' (1995) with

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

, ''Gold Without Boundaries'' (1998), featuring sculpture and gold work by the artist Daniel Brush and ''Waddesdon Manor : The Heritage of a Rothschild House'' (2010), a one-year study of Ferdinand de Rothschild's

Waddesdon Manor Waddesdon Manor is a English country house, country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by the National Trust and managed by the Rothschild Foundation, it is one of the National Trust's most visited properties, ...

. In 1991 Taylor and Dubler established Kubaba books, a publishing company devoted to produce limited-edition photography books. In an interview with the authors of ''Design Entrepreneur: Turning Graphic Design Into Goods That Sell'', when asked about the origin of the company's name, Dubler explained: "

Kubaba Kubaba (, ) was a legendary Mesopotamian queen who according to the ''Sumerian King List'' ruled over Kish for a hundred years before the rise of the dynasty of Akshak. It is typically assumed that she was not a historical figure. Name Kubaba' ...

was the earliest Indo-European name for the great mother-goddess of

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

." Inspired by their work on the book ''Waddesdon Manor : The Heritage of a Rothschild House'' produced for Scala Art Publishers, Kubaba's focus since 2010 shifted towards producing books that document their clients' private homes and estates; some of these clients have included Jane Stieren and her husband Bill N. Lacy, a former president of the

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

and former executive director of the

Pritzker Architecture Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment which has produced consisten ...

, as well as Anne Sidamon-Eristoff, a former chairman of the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

. Taylor also specializes in jewelry photography as demonstrated in photographs of

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...

's collection for

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

's ''My Love Affair With Jewelry'' (2002), as well as ''Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box'' (2009), a catalog of

brooch A brooch (, ) is a decorative jewellery item designed to be attached to garments, often to fasten them together. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold or some other material. Brooches are frequently decorated with enamel or with gem ...

es belonging to Secretary of State

Madeleine Albright Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Körbelová, later Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political science, political scientist who served as the 64th United States Secretary of State, United S ...

Books

* ''Within the Underworld Sky: Mimbres Ceramic Art in Context'', June 1984, 162 pages, * ''Pre-Columbian Art from the Ernest Erickson Collection at the American Museum of Natural History'', January 1988, * ''The Cycladic Spirit: Masterpieces from the Nicholas P. Goulandris Collection'', September 1991, 207 pages, * ''The Inca Empire and Its Andean Origins'', October 1993, 251 pages, * ''The Currency of Fame: Portrait Medals of the Renaissance'', March 1994, 424 pages, * ''The Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry'', September 1994, 256 pages, * ''Judith Leiber: The Artful Handbag'', March 1995, 159 pages, * ''Swarovski: The Magic of Crystal'', April 1995, 158 pages, * ''The White House Collection of American Crafts'', April 1995, 128 pages, * ''Masterpieces of American Indian Art: From the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection'', September 1995, 96 pages, * ''Learning from the Dalai Lama: Secrets of the Wheel of Time'', October 1995, 40 pages, * ''Gioielli Etnici: Africa, Asia, Americhe, Oceania dalla Collezione di Colette e Jean-Pierre Ghysels'', January 1996, 294 pages, * ''The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership'', March 1996, 344 pages, * ''Art in the Frick Collection: Paintings, Sculpture, Decorative Arts'', September 1996, 208 pages, * ''Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet'', September 1996, 488 pages, * ''Kenneth Jay Lane: Faking It'', September 1996, 160 pages, * ''Paul J. Stankard: Homage to Nature'', October 1996, 160 pages, * ''Recycled Re-Seen: Folk Art from the Global Scrap Heap'', October 1996, 208 pages, * ''Venetian Glass: Confections in Glass 1855-1914'', March 1998, 128 pages, * ''Daniel Brush: Gold Without Boundaries'', September 1998, 275 pages, * ''Schmuck: Kostbarkeiten aus Afrika, Asien, Ozeanien und Amerika aus der Sammlung Ghysels'', January 1999, 287 pages, * ''Crosscurrents: Masterpieces of East Asian Art from New York Private Collections'', March 1999, 195 pages, * ''Evidence: The Art of Candy Jernigan'', July 1999, 176 pages, * ''Masterpieces of American Furniture from the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute'', July 1999, 171 pages, * ''Meyer Schapiro: His Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture'', March 2000, 256 pages, * ''Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet'', September 2000, 488 pages, * ''The Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry: From the Colette and Jean-Pierre Ghysels Collection'', March 2001, 256 pages, * ''Waddesdon Manor: The Heritage of a Rothschild House'', May 2002, 320 pages, * ''Divine Presence: Arts of India and the Himalayas'', August 2003, 180 pages, * ''Cincinnati Art-Carved Furniture and Interiors'', November 2003, 295 pages, * ''Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry'', December 2003, 240 pages, * ''A Walk through the Ages: Chinese Archaic Art from the Sondra Landy Gross Collection'', January 2004, 224 pages, * ''New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede'', January 2005, 629 pages, * ''Ferdinand Richardt: Drawings of America, 1855-1859'', February 2007, 80 pages, * ''Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box'', September 2009, 176 pages,

Photographic exhibitions

* ''Microcosm: The New York Chinese Scholar's Garden'', curated by Christophe W. Mao and Judith Whitbeck, Chinese Scholar's Garden at the Staten Island Botanical Garden, April 26–28, 2002 * ''The Armory Wall: A Tribute to September 11'', ongoing traveling exhibition

References

External links

John Bigelow Taylor's official website

Official website for Kubaba
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, John Bigelow American photographers Living people Artists from New York (state) Year of birth missing (living people)