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Jan Yoors
Belgian, 1922-1977
During his life, Jan Yoors was widely known as a master tapestry artist as well as a preeminent expert on gypsy life. These seemingly divergent fields aptly describe the breadth of Yoors’ talents. The lesser recognized but no less significant of these were in photography, painting, sculpture, writing and film. Unusual experiences during Yoor’s formative years set the stage for a rich, although, brief life.
At the age of twelve, with parental permission, he left his home in Antwerp to travel around North Eastern Europe with a gypsy kumpania. Thus began his life among the gypsies, which lasted for ten years until 1944. At the outbreak of the Second World War, while on his way to England, Yoors was recruited by the French Resistance to enlist gypsies to smuggle food and arms for the allied forces in France, Belgium and Holland. In 1943, he was captured by the Gestapo, imprisoned and condemned to death. Shortly after his release due to mistaken identity, he was again caught - this time by Franco’s army - while dressed as a SS officer accompanying prisoners on escape routes from Belgium to Spain. With the aid of British intervention he was set free and finally reached England.
While studying law in London, Yoors visited a tapestry exhibition and was instantly inspired by the craft. Not long thereafter, he was weaving and sculpting and exhibiting his work. In 1950, he moved to New York and set-up a loom. His partners Marianne and Annabert both joined him and weaved his designs for bold and colorful tapestries. His first solo exhibition in the U.S. was at the Montclair Art Museum in 1956 and at the age of thirty-seven he was selected by Art in America as one of the new talents to watch. Throughout the following decades his work was featured across the country and in Mexico, Canada and Belgium.
While Yoors had taken some photographs as a child traveling with the gypsies, it was not until 1961 that he re-connected with photography. Two colleagues interested in his unique insight proposed making a film on the Roma in the Balkans and he brought a camera to provide stills for research and reference.
The diversity of New York’s own inhabitants fascinated him as well. He filmed and photographed Chinatown parades, Hasidic Jews, Harlem weddings, Iroquois construction workers, and rooftop children. These were featured in the 1964 feature-length film "Only One New York" and his book by the same name, published by Simon & Schuster the following year.
Yoors returned to Europe in 1971 in search of gypsies who had survived the war, traveling through Belgium, France, and Spain. Photographs from his encounters with the gypsies spanning forty years were the subject of a posthumous exhibition at the Museum of Natural History in New York City in 1986. Jan Yoors died of complications from diabetes in 1977 at the age of fifty-five.
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CHRONOLOGY |
1922 |
Born Antwerp, Belgium |
1934 |
Leaves parents to travel with gypsy tribe on and off for ten years |
Late 1930s |
Studies sculpture at Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp |
1941-1942 |
Attends Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Architecture et des Arts Decoratifs, at the Institut Superieur d’Art de la Cambre, Brussels |
1940 |
Recruited by French Resistance on his way to Britain to co-opt gypsies to smuggle food and arms in Belgium, France, and Holland |
1943 |
Captured, imprisoned and condemned to death by Gestapo in Antwerp. Mistakenly released then re-captured by Franco’s army while dressed as SS officer accompanying prisoners on escape routes from Belgium to Spain |
1944 |
Released from Spanish concentration camp on petition from Anthony Eden. Joins Belgian forces in UK |
1945-1946 |
Studies international law at the School of African and Oriental Studies, London University |
1946 |
Begins sculpting and weaving after seeing exhibition in London
Writes for “Gypsy Lore Society”, London
Marries Annebert with whom he has corresponded since the age of 11
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1947-1948 |
Annebert’s childhood friend, Marianne joins them in the UK |
Late 1940s |
First exhibitions in Europe |
1950 |
Settles in New York and sets up studio with a 15-foot vertical loom |
1951 |
Marianne and Annebert join him in NY |
1956 |
Solo exhibition at the Montclair Art Museum, NJ |
1959 |
Art in America lists him as a new talent |
1950s and 1960s |
Sculpture, tapestries, and photographs are exhibited throughout the US and in Europe |
1962 |
and again in 1965 Yoors is selected as the US representative at the International Biennial of Contemporary Tapestries, Lausanne, Switzerland |
1963 |
Only One New York feature length documentary film released |
1965 |
Only One New York book published |
1965 |
The Gypsies memoir published |
1971 |
Crossing: A Journal of Survival and Resistance in World War II published by Simon and Schuster. |
1977 |
Dies in New York |
2004 |
Posthumous publication of The Heroic Present: Life Among the Gypsies |
SOLO PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITIONS |
2008 |
"Jan Yoors Gypsies 1934-1944", Museum of History and Holocaust, Kansas State University, KS |
2007 |
"The Heroic Present: Jan Yoors Photographs", Kennishaw, Atlanta |
2004 |
"Plight of the Roma", Columbia, University School of International Affairs, New York |
2001 |
"Jan Yoors Tapestries and Photographs", Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH |
1986 |
"The Gyspies", Museum of Natural History, New York, NY |
1975 |
"Jan Yoor’s Fotos", Paule Pia Gallery, Antwerp |
1967 |
"AIA international Congress on Religion, Architecture and the Visual Arts", Museum of Modern Art, New York traveled to Royal Victoria College, MacGill University, Montreal, Canada |
GROUP PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITIONS |
2010 |
"Selections from L Parker Stephenson Photographs &
Fifty One Fine Art Photography",
L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York, New York, USA
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2009 |
"Paris Photo", Fifty One Fine Art, Paris, France |
2009 |
"La France de Profil", L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York, NY |
2005 |
"Belgian Photography: The Survey Show", FotoMuseum, Antwerp |
A SELECTION OF OTHER EXHIBITIONS |
2010 |
"Tapestries, Drawings, and Photographs from the Estate of
Jan Yoors", ReGeneration, New York, New York, USA
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2010 |
"Mid Century Style and Studio Pottery", Greenwich House Pottery, New York, New York
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2005 |
"Connecticut Collects", (drawings) Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT |
1996 |
"Jan Yoors", (tapestries), The State Academy of Art and Design, St. Petersburg, Russia
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1989 |
"Jan Yoors" (tapestry), Idaho State Museum, Boise, ID |
1980 |
"Jan Yoors", (tapestry) National Academy of Science, Washington, DC |
1975 |
"Jan Yoors Retrospective", (sculpture, tapestry, paintings) Ghent Cultural Center, Belgium |
1967 |
"Jan Yoors" (tapestry, photography), University of Texas, Austin, TX |
1966 |
"Jan Yoors", Chicago Arts Club, Chicago, IL |
1964 |
Represents US at the International Biennial of Tapestry, Lausanne, Switzerland |
1962 |
Represents US at the First International Biennial of Tapestry, Lausanne, Switzerland |
1961 |
"Jan Yoors", Gallery Exelcior, Mexico City, Mexico |
1960 |
"Jan Yoors", Park Bennet Gallery, New York |
1958 |
"Jan Yoors", Dallas University Museum, Dallas, TX |
1957 |
"Wall Hangings and Rugs", Museum of Contemporary Craft, New York, NY |
1956 |
"An Exhibition of Tapestries", two-person show with Jean van Noten, Montclair Museum of Art, NJ, traveled to Everhart Museum, Scranton, PA |
1953 |
"Architectural Tapestries" National Design Center, New York, NY |
1950 |
"Jan Yoors", (tapestry, sculpture, drawings) La Grande Librairie, Antwerp |
1949 |
Royal Institute of British Architecture, London |
1948 |
"Jan Yoors", (tapestry and sculpture), Archer Gallery, London |
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS |
American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington |
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington |
Austin Museum of Art, Austin |
Chicago Art Institute, Chicago |
FotoMuseum, Antwerp |
Hebert Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithican |
Holocaust Museum, Washington DC |
Hurschler Collection, Pasadena |
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
Museum of Art and Design, New York |
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY |
Books |
2004 |
Yoors, Jan. The Heroic Present: Life Among the Gypsies. New York:Monacelli Press. |
1974 |
Yoors, Jan. Gypsies of Spain. Photographs by Andre Lopez. New York: Macmillan. |
1971 |
Yoors, Jan. Crossing: A Journal of Survival and Resistance in World War II. New York: Simon and Schuster. Reissued in paperback Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, 1988. |
1967 |
Yoors, Jan. Gypsies. New York: Simon and Schuster. New York Times best seller list. Reissued in paperback Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, 1987. |
1965 |
Samuels, Charles. Photographs by Jan Yoors. Only One New York. New York: Simon and Schuster. |
Film |
1963 |
Only One New York |
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