COPLANS John
BIBLIOGRAPHY ARTWORKS
John Rivers Coplans (London, 24 June 1920 – New York City, 21 August 2003) was a British artist, art writer, curator, and museum director. A veteran of World War II and a photographer, he emigrated to the United States in 1960 and had many exhibitions in Europe and North America. He was on the founding editorial staff of Artforum from 1962 to 1971, and was Editor-in-Chief from 1972 to 1977.
Coplans is known for his series of black and white self-portraits which are a frank study of the naked, aging body. He photographed his body from the base of his foot to the wrinkles on his hand. As he never photographed his face, his images are not focused on a specific man nor identity.
His major one-person exhibitions include: the Art Institute of Chicago (1981, 1989), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1988), the Museum of Modern Art, NY (1988), Boymans-van Beuningan, Rotterdam (1990), the Fundacio Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon (1990), the Centre George Pompidou, Paris (1994), Ludwig Forum, Aachen (1995), Contemporary Art Center, NY (1997), Paco dasArtes, São Paulo (1998), Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (1999), Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (1999).