Artist
Theodor Jung
(1906 - 1996) American (b. Austria)
Biography
Theodor (Theo) Jung was born in Vienna in 1906, and immigrated to Chicago in 1912 to join his mother. He demonstrated an early interest in photography after receiving a Brownie camera at the age of ten and photographed his surroundings throughout his years in boarding school and college. Jung also displayed skill in graphics and typography. His employment with the Federal Emergency Relief Administration in Washington, DC, where he worked as a chart draftsman, preparing statistics of unemployment, heightened his awareness of the social conditions of Depression-era America.
Shortly after meeting Roy Stryker, director of the photographic section of the Resettlement Administration, in 1934, Jung began to shoot for agricultural projects in Maryland, Indiana, and Ohio. Although Stryker admired his intuitive approach to the medium, Jung's recurring technical difficulties led to the end of his photographic assignments with the agency. After 1943, Jung focused his activities more on book illustration and design.
Christopher Phillips and Vanessa Rocco, eds. Modernist Photography: Selections from the Daniel Cowin Collection. Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2003, p. 110.
References:
Auer, Anna. Übersee Flucht und Emigration: österreichischer Fotografen, 1920-1940 (Exodus from Austria: Emigration of Austrian Photographers 1920-1940). Vienna: Kunsthalle Wien, 1997.
Interview with Theodor Jung by Richard K. Doud, January 19, 1965, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
Shortly after meeting Roy Stryker, director of the photographic section of the Resettlement Administration, in 1934, Jung began to shoot for agricultural projects in Maryland, Indiana, and Ohio. Although Stryker admired his intuitive approach to the medium, Jung's recurring technical difficulties led to the end of his photographic assignments with the agency. After 1943, Jung focused his activities more on book illustration and design.
Christopher Phillips and Vanessa Rocco, eds. Modernist Photography: Selections from the Daniel Cowin Collection. Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2003, p. 110.
References:
Auer, Anna. Übersee Flucht und Emigration: österreichischer Fotografen, 1920-1940 (Exodus from Austria: Emigration of Austrian Photographers 1920-1940). Vienna: Kunsthalle Wien, 1997.
Interview with Theodor Jung by Richard K. Doud, January 19, 1965, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC