JONES, Pirkle 1914-

PERSONAL: Born January 2, 1914, in Shreveport, LA; son of Alfred Charles (a fine-cabinet maker) and Wilie (Tilton) Jones; married Ruth-Marion Baruch (a photographer and writer), January 15, 1949. Education: San Francisco Art Institute (formerly California School of Fine Arts), 1946-49, received certificate in photography. Politics: Peace and Freedom Party.

ADDRESSES: Home and office—663 Lovell Ave., Mill Valley, CA 94941. E-mail—pirkle@earthlink.net.

CAREER: Machine operator for Lima Sole and Heel Company, 1933-41; freelance photographer, 1949—; assistant to Ansel Adams, San Francisco, CA, 1949-52; California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco, photography instructor, 1953-58; San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA, photography instructor, 1971-97. Conducted and participated in many photographic workshops at University of California, Santa Cruz and Ansel Adams workshops in Yosemite, CA. Work represented in several major art museums, including Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, TX, Chicago Art Institute, and San Francisco Museum of Art. Member of Mill Valley Architectural Advisory Committee, 1963-67. Exhibitions: Ansel Adams Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 1952; International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY, 1955; "Building an Oil Refinery," San Francisco Academy of Sciences, 1957; "California Roadside Council Exhibition," The Capital, Sacramento, CA, 1960; "Death of a Valley," San Francisco Museum of Art, 1960; "The Story of a Winery," Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 1963; "Walnut Grove: Portrait of a Town," San Francisco Museum of Art, 1964; American Federation of Arts, Carmel, CA, 1965; Bay Window Gallery, Mendocino, CA, 1967; Photography Center, Carmel, CA, 1967; "Portfolio Two," California Redwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 1968; "Photographic Essay on the Black Panthers," De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, 1968; Underground Gallery, New York, NY, 1969, "Gate Five," Ikon Gallery, Monterey, CA, 1970; Tintype Gallery, Tiburon, CA, 1971; "Portfolio Two," The Studio Gallery, Bolinas, CA, 1972; The Photography Place, Berwyn, PA, 1973; Shado' Gallery, Oregon City, OR, 1973; "Portraits of Adams, Lange, Sheeler, Weston," San Francisco Art Institute, 1977; "The Sculpture of Annette Rosenshine," San Francisco Art Institute, 1977; and "Vintage Years," Vision Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 1984. Has also participated in group exhibitions. Military service: U.S. Army, 1941-46; served as a warrant officer in Signal Corps, 37th Infantry Division; fought in South Pacific; received Bronze Star.

AWARDS, HONORS: Photographic Excellence Award, National Urban League, New York, 1961; National Endowment for Arts photography fellowship, 1977; Award of Honor, Arts Commission of the City of San Francisco, 1983, for exceptional achievement in the field of photography; Citizen of the Day Award, KABL Radio, San Francisco, 1983.

WRITINGS:

Portfolio One, text by Charles P. Johnson, [San Francisco, CA], 1955.

(With Dorothea Lange) Death of a Valley, [Millerton, NY], 1960.

Portfolio Two, introduction by Ansel Adams, [Mill Valley, CA], 1968.

(With wife, Ruth-Marion Baruch) The Vanguard: A Photographic Essay on the Black Panthers, Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 1970.

(With Dorothea Lange) Berryessa Valley: The Last Year (exhibition catalogue), Vacaville Museum (Vacaville, CA), 1995.

(With Tim Wride) Pirkle Jones: California Photographs, Aperture Foundation (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Ruth-Marion Baruch) Black Panthers 1968, Greybull Press (Los Angeles, CA), 2002.

Also contributor to Encyclopedia of Photography, 1957, and to periodicals, including Pacific Discovery and Darkroom Magazine.

SIDELIGHTS: Pirkle Jones is a photographer whose books bring natural wonders to life for readers who would never otherwise encounter subjects such as the Black Panthers and the California landscape. His technical knowledge of film, paper, and developing was gained in the 1940s when he studied at the California School of Fine Arts with Ansel Adams and Minor White. In a review of Pirkle Jones: California Photographs, Sylvia Andrews of Library Journal observed that Jones's "style fuses documentary photography with poetic emotion." Suzanne Muchnic of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Philosophically, Jones is akin to [Minor] White, who conceived of photography as a spiritual discipline and valued meaning as much as composition."

In an interview for Contemporary Photographers, Jones commented on his work: "I am interested in the single image as an aesthetic expression and in documentary photography. I demand content in my work, and am not interested in style for its own sake."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Photographers, 3rd edition, St. James (Detroit, MI), 1996.

Katzman, Louise, Photography in California, 1945-1980, [San Francisco, CA], 1984.

PERIODICALS

Aperture, Volume 4, number 2, 1956, Nancy Newhall, "Pirkle Jones Portfolio."

British Journal of Photography, October 17, 1980, Robert Holmes, "Pirkle Jones."

Choice, June, 2002, S. Spencer, review of Pirkle Jones: California Photographs, p. 1760.

Darkroom, December, 1977.

Examiner and Chronicle Living, January 13, 1985, Jack McCarty, "Poet of Images."

Image, March, 1957, Minor White, "Short Run Color."

Library Journal, March 1, 2002, Sylvia Andrews, review of Pirkle Jones: California Photographs, p. 94.

Los Angeles Times, December 2, 2001, Suzanne Muchnic, "Art: The Focus of a Lifetime," p. F6.

Pacific Discovery, January-February, 1967.

U.S. Camera Magazine, October, 1952, Ansel Adams, "Pirkle Jones, Photographer."

ONLINE

The Davis Virtual Market,http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/vme/ (June 2, 2003).*