John T. Hill


John T. Hill is an American artist. His work focuses mainly on design and photography.

Education

As an undergraduate at the University of Georgia, Hill studied painting, design, and photography, earning a BFA in design in 1955, and an MFA in painting in 1956. After a tour of infantry duty he continued graduate studies in design and photography at the Yale School of Art and Architecture.

Teaching

On graduating, he was asked to join the Yale faculty, where he taught both graphic design and photography. His faculty colleagues from the 1960s and 70s included Alvin Eisenman, Walker Evans, Herbert Matter, Norman Ives, Bradbury Thompson, and Paul Rand.
When Yale's Graphic Design Department was established in 1951 photography was seen as an integral part of the curriculum. Twenty years later, with photography's increased presence in the arts, Eisenman and Hill founded Yale's first Department of Photography, making it independent from its parent, Graphic Design.
Hill served as the department's first Director of Graduate Studies in Photography from 1971 to 1978.

Professional work

He began his early studies with hopes of being a painter before evolving into design and photography. During more than twenty years of teaching, Hill continued to work as a photographer, taking pictures for numerous books, magazines, and corporate publications. As a designer, his work is diverse, ranging from US postage stamp design to exhibition installations. Within the last ten years he has focused primarily on books and exhibition designs, as well as writing.

Executor of Walker Evans' estate

Three years before his death, Walker Evans asked Hill to serve as executor of his estate. On Evans' death in 1975, Hill took as a goal the expanded reading of Evans' work. The most common perception was, at best, a bathetic record of the Great Depression in the rural South. For Hill and many others, Evans' work rose high above that limited appraisal to be examined as a more universal statement surpassing the specifics of that time and place. As executor, Hill produced four books for the Evans estate. Others followed, all with that same purpose.
During and after his 19-year tenure as Evans' executor, Hill created many exhibitions of gelatin silver prints made from Evans' negatives. Within the last ten years, Hill has used the digital techniques of scanning, file adjustment, and digital printing to interpret Evans' images. These digital tools allow maintaining detailed information in both dark and light passages, in a manner not possible with gelatin silver printing. Hill has used these digital files to produce prints, exhibitions, and books that extend the appreciation of Evans' intricate and multi-layered work. These exhibitions have been shown in museums and galleries in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Korea, New York City, and numerous other American institutions.
With Hill's help, the Evans archive was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1994. There it has received appreciation for its intrinsic value as the work of one of America's seminal artists. Proper conservation and cataloging can only be realized by an institution with such perception, size, and depth. The major portion of that archive is now available for study online.

Authorship

Hill has also produced books presenting the work of wide-ranging talents, including Walker Evans, W. Eugene Smith, Edward Weston, Erwin Hauer, and Peter Sekaer.
In 2013 Hill designed the book Calder by Matter for Cahiers d'Art. It is Herbert Matter's intimate account of Calder's work and his family life for over thirty years.
Books related to Walker Evans produced by J. Hill:
Designed, Edited, Authored, Co-authored, or Produced by John T. Hill:
List of Books

  • Luc Sante
  • On the occasion of the exhibition Walker Evans: New York
  • ,
  • Broadly surveys the life and
Walker Evans: First and Last, Evans,
  • Published, Harper and Row, New York, 1978
  • Seker Warburg, London, 1978
  • Design, picture sequence, production, JTH
    • Walker Evans at Work,
  • Essay, Jerry L. Thompson
  • Published, Harper and Row, New York, 1982
  • Thames and Hudson, London, 1982
  • Concept, design, and picture editing, JTH
    • Walker Evans Havana 1933
  • Published, Contrejour, Paris, 1989
  • Pantheon, New York, 1989
  • Concept, design and picture editing, JTH
    • Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye,
  • Co-authors, John T. Hill, Gilles Mora.
  • Les Editions du Seuil, Paris, 1993
  • Harry N. Abrams. New York, 1993
  • Winner of the Prix de Nadar, Paris and
  • The Krasna Krausz Book Award, London.
  • Design concept and supervision, JTH
    • W. Eugene Smith Photographs 1934-1975
  • Co-authors, John T. Hill, Gilles Mora.
  • Les Editions du Seuil, Paris, 1988
  • Harry N. Abrams. New York, 1988
  • Thames and Hudson, London, 1988
  • Design and picture editing, JTH and Dorothy Hill
    • Walker Evans Simple Secrets,
  • Published, High Museum of Art and
  • Harry N. Abrams. New York, 1998
  • Design, picture editing, and production, JTH
  • Honored by the AIGA as one of 50 Books of the Year.
    • '
  • Co-authors, John T. Hill and Heinz Liesbrock
  • Prestel Verlag, Munich, 2015
    • Edward Weston: Forms of Passion, Passion of Forms
  • Les Editions du Seuil, Paris, 1998
  • Harry N. Abrams. New York, 1998
  • Thames and Hudson, London, 1998
  • Design and picture editing, JTH and Dorothy Hill
    • Walker Evans
  • Biography by James Mellow
  • Published by Basic Books, New York, 1999
  • Design, picture editing, JTH and Dorothy Hill
  • Honored by the
    • The Idea of Cuba: Alex Harris
  • Published by University of New Mexico Press
  • In association with The Center of Documentary Studies
  • Duke University, 2003
  • Design, JTH
    • Herbert Matter
  • Published by Stanford University, 2005
  • On the occasion of the acquisition of
  • Design, picture editing, separations, and production, JTH
    • '
  • Architectural Screens and Walls
  • Published, Princeton Architectural Press. New York, 2004
  • Design and picture editing, JTH
    • Walker Evans: Lyric Documentary,
  • Author and picture editor, John T. Hill
  • Published by Steidl, Göttingen, Germany, 2007
  • Book design, and digital separations, JTH
    • '
  • Books on Books
  • Errata Editions, New York, 2008.
  • Primary essay, “The Legacy of Seeing,” JTH
    • Peter Sekaer: Signs of Life
  • Author and picture editor, John T. Hill
  • Published by Steidl, Göttingen, Germany, 2010
  • Book design, and digital separations, JTH
    • '
  • Essays by Jed Perl and John T. Hill
  • Published by Cahiers d’Art, Paris, 2013
  • Book design, separations, and printing supervision, JTH
    • May Day at Yale, Recollections 1970
  • Co-authors, Henry Chauncey, Thomas Strong, and John T. Hill
  • Published 2015

    • Photography Exhibitions Produced By Hill

    Exhibitions or work by Hill


    https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/john-t-hill?all/all/all/all/0 [International Center for Photography]

    (4 Prints)

    Walker Evans House, April 1975
    Digital archival print on inkjet paper, 13 x 15 inches

    , Gift of John T. Hill, 2012.5.1

    View of Walker Evan's home interior. Focus is on a large bookshelf—one way sign image hangs above bookshelf.


    Walker Evans House, April 1975

    Digital archival print on inkjet paper, 13 1/2 x 13 inches

    , Gift of John T. Hill, 2012.5.2

    View of sink with papers, can pull tabs


    Walker Evans House, April 1975

    Digital archival print on inkjet paper, 13 x 15 inches

    , Gift of John T. Hill, 2012.5.3

    Interior view of living room—tidy—Evan's collection is prominently displayed


    Walker Evans House, April 1975

    Digital archival print on inkjet paper, 13 x 15 inches

    , Gift of John T. Hill, 2012.5.4

    Interior view of Walker Evans home, living room sofa shown with large sign "when in the mood for 'LOBSTER' Mactriffs!"