John Jonas Gruen
John Jonas Gruen (September 12, 1926 – July 12, 2016) (ne Jonas Grunberg) was a leading American photographer, composer, art critic, author, and art historian.[1]
Contents
Early life and education
Jonas Grunberg was born Sept. 12, 1926, in Enghien-les-Bains, France, the youngest of four sons, to Abraham Grunberg who was initially a diamond dealer later becoming a travel writer, and Aranka Dodeles.[2] The Jewish family moved to Berlin, Germany in 1929 and relocated to Milan in 1933 with the rise of Adolph Hitler to power and therefore the increase in anti-Semitism.[2] The family once again moved in 1939 when they left for New York City to flee from the effects of Benito Mussolini in Italy.[2]
Jonas Grunberg chose the name "John Jonas Gruen" in an attempt to Americanize himself. He learned how to speak English from Hollywood films. Gruen graduated from the High School of Commerce in New York City.[2] Initially he attended City College in New York. Then in an effort to assimilate, he sought attendance at what he thought to be the most American school, the University of Iowa.[2] Gruen majored in art history and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in the discipline.[2]
Career
After graduation from college, Gruen moved back to New York City where he settled in Greenwich Village.[2]
He took jobs as a book buyer at Brentano’s, a publicity director at Grove Press and a photographers’ agent.[2] Throughout his early years in New York, he aspired to be a composer and composed songs including settings of poetry by E. E. Cummings, Wallace Stevens and Rainer Maria Rilke.[2] The songs were ultimately performed by Eleanor Steber and Patricia Neway. “New Songs,” a compilation of Gruen's work, was released in 1950 and was the first record issued by Elektra Records.[2]
He became friends with composer, Virgil Thomson which inspired Gruen to contribute music reviews to The Herald Tribune, later becoming part of its staff in addition to acting as the paper's art critic.[2] Later in his career with the paper, he became a dance critic as well.[2]
As a photographer, Gruen captured images of the creative icons in his social and professional circles including Yoko Ono, Jasper Johns, Larry Rivers and Willem de Kooning.[2] Many of those photographs were later acquired by the Whitney Museum of American Art and adapted into an exhibition at the museum titled “Facing the Artist: Portraits by John Jonas Gruen.”[2]
Among Gruen's books are “The New Bohemia,” “The World’s Great Ballets," and “The Sixties: Young in the Hamptons.”[2]
Personal Life and Death
Gruen married Abstract Expressionist painter, Jane Wilson whom he met while studying at the University of Iowa.[2] Together they had one daughter, Julia Gruen, who became the executive director of the Keith Haring Foundation.[2] Gruen and Wilson had homes on New York City's Upper West Side and in Watermill, New York.[2]
Gruen died at the age of 89 from natural causes at his home in New York City in 2016.[2]
References
External links
- John Jonas Gruen Papers at the New York Public Library
