
Mitchell credits the “meticulous and dramatic lighting style of the black-and-white films of the 1940s” with being the major influence on the way he sees and uses light.
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While in high school, he photographed babies, children, and yearbook portraits, as well as attended the last showing at the local movie theater four nights a week. When he was fifteen, he received his first and only press card, and was being paid for his work.
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In Icons & Idols (1998), Mitchell tells us that this was his “first actual contact with an identifiable idol,” and that this occurred “well before knew the words ‘icon’ and ‘idol.’ By the time he was twelve, and his family had moved to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, Mitchell was avidly reading Walter Winchell’s syndicated gossip column, as well as learning how to develop film and make contact prints from his father.

When Mitchell was five years old, his family lived in Key West, and Ernest Hemingway used to take him on his daily walk to the post office. Even when he was an adolescent, it was as if he knew that by seeing something about others that hadn’t been noticed before, and photographing it, he would be able to shape the trajectory of his own life. For if you know anything about his life, and I don’t really know that much, you realize that Mitchell, at a young age, began to make his circumstances into a perfect launching pad for becoming a fabulous photographer, which is to say he worked deliberately at learning how to see what could only be seen through a camera. However, even though I know that no one is ever a born writer, much less a born photographer, I am tempted to make an exception in the case of Jack Mitchell. Perhaps, this is because one simply needs too many things to make a photograph. “We have all heard of someone described as a born writer, ballplayer, or musician, but I would wager that few of us have heard of someone described as a born photographer. With hundreds of beautiful images and interviews with luminaries including playwright Edward Albee, Broadway star Patti LuPone, critic Clive Barnes, dance greats Merce Cunningham, Judith Jamison, and Kevin McKenzie, and author/composer Ned Rorem, among others, Highberger reveals Mitchell’s fascinating life and the art world he documented for Dance Magazine, The New York Times, After Dark and countless other publications.Īn excerpt written by poet and art critic, John Yau included in the book ICONS & IDOLS: A PHOTOGRAPHER’S CHRONICLE OF THE ARTS (1960-1995) organized by Atlantic Center for the Arts best tells his story. Through this film, Director Craig Highberger follows Mitchell’s acclaimed career as a pivotal photographer of the arts for more than five decades.

Jack Mitchell, American photographer and author, was best known for his photographs of American artists, dancers, film and theatre performers, musicians and writers. View an excerpt from Jack Mitchell’s documentary to learn more about his life chronicling the arts. The 16” x 14” black and white portraits are a part of Atlantic Center for the Arts permanent collection.

These works are stunning images and collectively they convey the history of ACA artists-in-residence program in an elegant and striking way. The Jack Mitchell Portrait Gallery showcases 180 Artist photographs spanning 22 years, from Atlantic Center for the Arts inaugural residency in 1982 to the end of 2004.
