J. R. Eyerman

J.R. Wharton Eyerman (9 October 1906—7 December 1985) was an American photographer and photojournalist.

Early life

Eyerman was born in his parents' Butte, Montana photography studio.[1] 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;

My mama don tole me,
That she wouldn't give me,
A name like Walter or Moe:
So she done give me a mess of initials,
Said, "Son pick up a name as you go."'[2]

He left Butte to study civil engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle.[3]

Life magazine

Eyerman was on staff for Life Magazine from 1942 to 1961.[4] He covered World War II for Life on the European and Pacific fronts.[5] He once said;

"Pressing the button for LIFE magazines just made the world stand still."[6]

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 in Hollywood in November 1952.[5][1]

Such visual repetition was a favourite 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 for the world-touring Museum of Modern Art exhibition The Family of Man that was seen by 9 million visitors.[7][8][9]

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 5 of his G.I. 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.[10]

He left Life in 1961 to work for Time, National Geographic, and several medical magazines.[11]

Technical innovations

After opening his own structural engineering firm in Seattle, he developed new tools to photograph in difficult situations. In his 1957 book, author Stanley Rayfield noted that;

"Eyerman's technical innovations have helped push back the frontiers of photography. He perfected an electric eye mechanism to trip the shutters of nine cameras to make pictures of an atomic blast [at Yucca Flat, Nevada, in 1952]; devised [with Otis Barton] a special camera for taking pictures 3600 feet beneath the surface of the ocean; successfully 'speeded up' color film to make previously impossible color pictures of the shimmering, changing forms and patterns of the aurora borealis."[12]

Death

Eyerman died of kidney failure and heart failure at his home in Santa Monica, California.[11]

References
  1. Hamblin, Dora Jane (1977), That was the Life (1st ed.), Norton, ISBN 978-0-393-08764-2
  2. LIFE, 8 Jun 1942, page 17, Vol. 12, No. 23, Time/Life Inc.
  3. Cosgrove, Ben (November 7, 2014). "Photographer Spotlight: J.R. Eyerman". Time Magazine. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  4. "J. R. Eyerman – Rare, Never-Seen: 'Spartacus' at 50" LIFE
  5. The great Life photographers, Thames & Hudson, 2009, p. 156, ISBN 978-0-500-28836-8
  6. That was the Life, Dora Jane Hamblin, Andre Deutsch Ltd, London, 1977, p.290
  7. Steichen, Edward; Sandburg, Carl; Norman, Dorothy; Lionni, Leo; Mason, Jerry; Stoller, Ezra; Museum of Modern Art (New York) (1955). The family of man: The photographic exhibition. Published for the Museum of Modern Art by Simon and Schuster in collaboration with the Maco Magazine Corporation.
  8. Hurm, Gerd, 1958–, (editor.); Reitz, Anke, (editor.); Zamir, Shamoon, (editor.) (2018), The family of man revisited : photography in a global age, London I.B.Tauris, ISBN 978-1-78672-297-3CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  9. Sandeen, Eric J (1995), Picturing an exhibition : the family of man and 1950s America (1st ed.), University of New Mexico Press, ISBN 978-0-8263-1558-8
  10. Museum of Modern Art, Exhibitions record for J. R. Eyerman
  11. Los Angeles Times obituary; 'Photographer J. R. Eyerman Dies' December 07, 1985
  12. Rayfield, Stanley (1957), Life photographers : their careers and favorite pictures, Doubleday & Co



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