[][][] Joel-Peter Witkin [][][]

[the Burning Eye]

Contents:

I. Proposal for Discussion
II. Witkin's work introduced
III. Divine Revolt (by Witkin)
IV. Technical information
V. Where can his work be found
VI. His call for models
VII Biographical Outline
VIII. Permanent collections
IX. About the author

My intention with this post is to both introduce people to Joel-
Peter Witkin's work, and to stimulate discussions about
photography. Having been a net junkie for two years I have been
passively disappointed with the lack of serious art discussion. Don't
be offended ... I have probably missed some good ones here and
there. This aside, I am setting out on a campaign to write and post
articles about photographers who interest me. Some, I'm sure, you
know while others I am really going to pull out of left field. My
selection of Witkin as the first victim in this scheme has given me
some reservations. His work is extreme, powerful, and in a good
mood I would concede .... dangerous. It is also a group of work
which is still shaping my world and many of my friends. Yes, I am a
photographer. And like many of you the passion to create boils like
an unholy ichor in my veins. So.... let us begin with a controversial
modern master, his images, and a reckless abandon into a new
thread on so many quiet boards.

Ahhh, yes, I realize it is difficult to properly introduce a
photographer without his or her images but this is the way of things.
If you are a photographer, art student, or simply interested I
encourage you to find some of Witkin's work in a library or bookstore
....at least for reference to this exhaustive post.

II. INTRODUCTION TO JOEL-PETER WITKIN

Some have accused him of being a demon, an evil sorcerer, a
grave robber, and a heretic. While my goal is not to define the man, a
study of his work will undoubtedly do so. His subject matter? The
Forbidden and the sacred.

As with most photographers Witkin is prolific. Due to the
enormous scope of his catalogue I shall address his images from 1979
to the present date.

Delving deeply into the taboo and forbidden, his photographs
focused our awareness to human existence. Mortality, fear, love and
desire are all uniquely explored and displayed. Heavily shrouded in
religious metaphor, classical mythology and symbolism, his images
invoke emotions at a very human level.

Witkin has been highly acclaimed in Europe, receiving the
French honor of Chevalier des Arts et Lettres in 1990. In America,
however, his work has kept a low profile. It suprises me how few
photography students know his work, but this low-key presence may
have saved him from the hellfire of the late 80's. Senators such as
Jesse Helms (North Carolina) would have responded very strongly
to his taboo subject matter. Witkin has, however, just received his
fourth NEA grant! Who knows, there may be hope . . .

The writer Richard B. Woodward offers this opinion about
Witkin's lack of negative publicity. "Witkin has evaded the censors
because he puts his inflammatory subject matter at a historical
remove; people often can't tell, or can't believe, what they are
seeing. As dramas of physical distress and confusing sexuality,
Witkin's images hold a strange place in the politics of the body and
gender. Like Weegee, Arbus, and Maplethorpe, he pictures the
forbidden, feeding our desires to peer into the tent at the elephant
man, to touch death and misery with our eyes."

While I compare many of his images to artist such as
Hieronymus Bosch and Miro, I believe that Witkin's closest ties are
with the Symbolist of the late 19th Century. Elements common with
the Symbolist movement are used and elaborated upon: masks,
snaky monsters, severed heads, femmes fatales, and of course new
interpretation of classical mythology. What is truly important both
with the original Symbolist and this modern master is how these
images are so personally expressed. We are able to see as Witkin
sees, taste as Witkin taste, and touch as Witkin touches. Witkin's
vision is relentless. His uncanny ability to explore pathways
forbidden to the normal manifests itself over and over. Through his
work we are able to walk roads we would normally not tread.

In particular I find a great amount of similarity between Redon
and Witkin. In Redon's piece "Homage to Goya" (1885) it is
interesting to note the similarity of pen stroke to Witkin's negative
scratching. There is a similar violent interruption of the image, and
both represent the authentic hand of the creator. As Redon abstracts
and directs our attention Witkin also selects and restricts our
perception with his marks.

Many of Redon's paintings are interested in discoveries made
through scientific materialism. Some of his forms look as though
they were seen through a microscope. Nightmarish creations whose
forms look like terrible single celled organisms. One approach to
studying Witkin's work is through his use of natural history museum
collections. Severed body parts take on an anatomical fascination.
The body interior displayed abstractly. No medical instruments,
reminiscent of early science and the great unknown.

Witkin's subject matter ranges from circus freaks, Siamese
twins, and hermaphrodites to detached body parts, vivisected
animals, and corpses. One of the foremost questions when
examining his work is how did he have access to such material. While
I have heard pounds of speculation, some sources are known. In the
Back of Grotesque Witkin credits the Mutter Museum and the
College of Physicians in Philadelphia as a sources; a French
neurosurgeon is credited as allowing Witkin to photograph and
manipulate a head for his "Still Life, Marseilles" (1992). Much of his
most recent work has been done in Hungary, where various asylums
gave him permission to document in his own style.

A theory which I cannot verify is that through his teaching
position at the University of New Mexico he was given access to
cadavers in the medical department. It would be interesting to
discover the application boundaries of medically released bodies.

The photograph Harvest. is a prime example of his subject
matter. The image is of an adult male head, obviously deceased,
containing a fruit/vegetable arrangement in the empty cranium.
Witkin recalls finding the head in a rare specimen collection, and was
initially refused the opportunity to photograph it. He was, however,
given permission to travel to the collection and work. The most
obvious inspiration for this photograph are the paintings of
Giuseppe Archimboldi (1527-93). An Italian artist who was especially
renowned for his portraits made up of flowers, fruit, vegetables, and
domestic objects. "In addition to being about death, this image also
relates to the bodies connection with food. The head, a very strange
quit thing, doesn't show violence although parts of the face and neck
are exposed to show nerve endings and muscles where there had
been connection to the rest of the body" (p16-17, Forty Photographs,
1985). Indeed the image is far from violent. There is a classical
serenity . . . an eternal peace which surround the still-life. A tribute to
our inevitable future, a hope for release in death?

I was lucky enough to attend Witkin's opening at the
Fahey/Kline Gallery in LA (Oct. 20th '93). The show was quite good.
His new work from Hungary I felt was a slightly disappointing
departure from his previous series, but very good none the less. One
interesting aspects of the show dealt with gallery politics. The
opening was shared with the director Tim Burton, who produced a
body of work based on his film Nightmare Before Christmas. I
cannot help but imagine that this was done by the gallery as a way to
promote Witkin and visa versa. A popular director like Burton no
doubt brought many people who would not have normally come. I
have never been a fan of Tim Burton, and his work did nothing to
counter my feelings. I do believe however, that it exposed a great
many individuals to Joel's world. Because I do not personally know
Mr. Burton or Mr. Witkin I can only speculate on this pairing. If they
are the best of friends...ooops...sorry.

III. Divine Revolt (written by Witkin)

The following text is copied verbatim from Aperture #100, the
spelling of God as G-d, is in the original text. I do not know if this is
intentional by the author or by an editor. I imagine it is as Witkin
wished it to be.

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No one could explain what life and death were. No teacher,
book, radio broadcast, or television program could tell me. I
concluded that only the Creator of all things, G-d, maker of death
and life, would know. I wanted to know, from him!

An opportunity to know came to me when I was seventeen. My
fascination with seeing and observing things was based on the
uncertainty of being alive. I wanted proof of existence itself! I
became interested in photography because I felt it could supply that
proof. I had read several beginners books on photography, and
purchased a used Rollicord camera and film for it. My father, an
Orthodox Jew, who divorced my Christian mother for religious
differences, told me that he had read an article in the New York
Daily of a rabbi who had seen and talked to G-d! I was ecstatic with
the prospect of meeting such a man. Now it would be possible to
know what death and life were from a holy man who had seen G-d! I
called the synagogue and got permission to photograph the rabbi.
My first photograph, the very first piece of film I would expose,
would be of "The Rabbi Who Saw G-d." I was to photograph him in
his study, that was the very same place were G-d appeared to him.

That day arrived. I was escorted by a young rabbi to a great
pair of wooden doors. he told me to knock, and he left me there. I
knocked and entered with instant disappointment. I imagined a room
flooded with light, angels, and suns. I expected rainbows and
constellations with the rabbi standing, shining and larger than a
mountain. His voice would be of thunder. And he would tell me what
death and life were.

Instead I found a tired, sleepy little old man sitting in a corner
of a large dusty study. I did not see G-d within the rabbi or the
presence of G-d within the room. I decided to photograph the rabbi
anyway, hoping that perhaps, if I couldn't see what I had imagined
to be there, perhaps the film would reveal it. Perhaps G-d would
appear on the film when it was processed. Somehow, I knew that it
would not turn out that way. I closed the great doors still believing
that knowledge would come, and photography would be the means
to see and relive my fantasies. These fantasies had no place in the
ordinary but only in the most secret and hidden things--in the
strange, the bizarre, the invisible.

When I closed the great doors of the rabbi's study years before,
I still believed that reality meant only one thing--the presence of G-d
before me. Until that happened, I could have no identity, no purpose.
I than was a man in my late twenties whose sole ambition was to see
G-d and whose compulsion was to make photographs. In my
impatience to know reality and therefore to understand myself--I
decided to combine my ambition and compulsion. I could not wait to
see G-d--therefore, I would create the image of G-d! In order to
know if I were truly alive, I'd make the invisible visible! Photography
would be the means to bring G-d down to earth--to exist for me in
the photographic images I would create

I chose to incarnate Christ as G-d, because I believe he is G-d
and because he still represents the living belief of this culture. He is
the symbol, regardless of historical existence representing
REDEMPTION and the end of suffering and confusion.

The series of photographs resulting from this concept was
called "Contemporary Images of Christ." I will state at this time that
I have never nor will ever describe the photographs I have produced
or will ever produce as being "pictures." They are "images of things
not actually present in reality, other than my own reality."

My brother was working on a painting that incorporated
freaks. He asked me to go to a freak show in Coney Island, Brooklyn,
New York, and photograph different views of a three legged man, a
dwarf called The Chicken Lady and a person named Albert Alberta, a
hermaphrodite.

I photographed the three legged man, "The Chicken Lady," and
the hermaphrodite, with whom I had my first sexual experience. The
freak show became my home, my real environment filled with living
fantasies. Unfortunately the freak show was moving to the South. I
wanted to travel with them, but they didn't need a photographer and
I wasn't a freak. Instead, I stayed in New York City and worked in a
commercial photographic studios. With the freak show gone, I began
to create my own environments of personal fantasy in order to
photograph them.

The visual influences which had the most important effect upon
me at this time were paintings dealing with religious and esoteric
themes such as those by Cimabue and Giotto because of their
depiction of the frozen emotion of the sacred. Rembrant because he
made the sacred human. The Symbolist, Felicien Rops, Gustav Klimt,
and Alfred Kubin, because of their work dealing with dreams,
perversity, and Satanism somehow challenged the sacred yet seemed
an unavoidable part of the sacred. Balthus and Max Beckmann
because the former satisfied the appetite of his vision, the erotic and
the voyeuristic, while the latter, dealing in the melding of pain,
lostness, and death, hoped to find what was "real" by objectifying it.

Another form of visual influence was comic strips depicting
contemporary myth-heroes. I could never accept any symbol for it's
intended use, in any form. This applied to scripture, myth, and all art
forms, even to the simple stories of the comics. Therefore, Superman
became the hero of goodness, the secular Christ; Batman was the
lord of the bird world and darkness, the Anti-Christ; Wonder
Woman--the Amazon of impotence, the Virgin Mother.

At this time, I wanted no personal contact with other
photographers, preferring to work out my own vision in isolation.
The only photographer whose work strongly influenced me was
August Sander. His images were faithful to the character of his
subjects. he was able to go behind the masks of each of them with the
most straightforward use of the medium. Sanders worked with the
reality of his time, in the setting of his native land and the
consciousness of its people. My work would have none of these
qualities. I didn't believe in the reality of time or space, the
consciousness of all people was beyond my own. To me people were
only masks. My interest would be to reveal what the individual
subject chose to hide but instead to make the qualities of the hidden
more meaningful. This is why I could engage the world on my own
terms. I could deal with people only by superimposing my own masks
on theirs. The work of August Sanders had the impact of his reality,
of his convictions. My work would have the impact of my irreality, of
my doubts. The images I'd produce would not necessarily be aesthetic
but would represent source material of an individual's rage of
confusion and need to find the Self. I wanted my photographs to be
as powerful as the last thing a person sees or remembers before
death. My life work is to be connected with a place; we can't know,
hope to go, or hope to be.
Joel-Peter Witkin

::::::::::::::

When people see my work there is no "gray area" of response.
What they experience is either love or hate. People hate what I make
hate me, too. They must think I am a deamon or some sort of evil
sorcerer. Those who understand what I do appreciate the
determination, love, and courage it takes to find wonder and beauty
in people who are considered by society to be damaged, unclean,
dysfunctional, or wretched.

My art is the way I perceive and define life. It is sacred work,
since what I make are my prayers. These works are the measure of
my character, the transfiguration of love and desire, and, finally, the
quality of my soul. With this work, I am judged by myself, by my
contemporaries, and finally, by God. My life and work are
inseparable. It is all I have. It is all I need.

Joel-Peter Witkin Aperture Magazine #100 Fall 1992

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IV. Technical information
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

As with all great artists their vision and philosophy are paired
with technical excellence. In this Joel-Peter Witkin is no exception.
He is a master of the photographic medium. His arrangements are
still-life and medium sized set-portraiture. Quite a few images hold
a neo-classical feel, a mythic dream world. His work is exclusively
black and white.

The gallery prints I have seen range from 11*14 (uncommon) to
16*20 and 20*24. Magazine interviews reproduce his work well, but
in person the prints are breath-taking. I do not know exactly what
paper he uses, but I suspect it to be Kodak Elite (Complete GUESS..)
I know that much of his early work was taken with 2 1/4 & 35mm.
His present formats I believe are 2 1/4 and 4*5 (?). As to film and
camera I have little information. He may still shoot with a Rolli. (?) A
guess for film would be Tri-X or Plus-X, based on his traditional
tendencies and the time he began photographing.

Before the negative arrives to the enlarger it may be scratched
or painted on using a number of methods. Scratching would best be
done with a pin or blunt exacto knife, while paint brushes could apply
opaque or spot-tone. In printing, images are created with non-
conventional tools. Transparent materials may be lain on the paper
during exposure (as well as the negative). The most common being a
very thin vellum or cheese cloth. These materials are selectively torn,
wetted, and/or raised to create levels of diffusion and focus (mystery
and ambiguity). As well, he may be selectively developing and fixing
areas of the paper. So much work goes into each print...so much
unique work, that no two images look exactly the same.

Witkin has gone one step further in guaranteeing the limited
printing of his images. Each is actually unique! Yes, a set is printed
from the same negative, and they all contain the same negative
marks...but in printing each image has a slightly different
manipulation pattern. All in the same vein, but no two can be
executed in the same way.

As well, the vast majority of his photographs have uneven and
wavy borders, suggesting a custom printing frame or hand-ground
negative carrier...though the latter would produce a similar border
on all images...and this is not the case. My guess is that he creates a
border to best suit the image, possibly out of cardboard. Most prints
look heavily Selenium toned, which both enriches the blacks and
makes the print archival. Two selenium baths and the use of brown
stains can add an aged appearance. This aging of the image can
lessen the impact of his subject matter. He has now given us a
temporal barrier to his photographs. The final product is a very
distinct Witkin.

Again I encourage you to seek out Witkin's work. His printing
style is far different that most photographers. My technical
assumptions cannot be totally correct and I would be happy to
discuss alternative methods. . . .

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V. Where can his work be bought
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A good introduction is the book: Joel-Peter Witkin: 40
photographs. It includes 38 duo tone illustrations, quite a bit of text
and is 9' X 12'. It can be ordered from Light Impressions (1-800-828-
6216). Cost: $19.95. Aside from this Witkin has a larger book: Gods of
Earth and Heaven, ISBN #0-942642-39-2. This book was published
in 1991 by Twelvetree Press, 2400 North Lake Ave, Altadena, CA,
91001, (818) 798-5207. It cost around $45.00 and is a must for the
serious fan. His latest publication is Harms Way, an extraordinary
book discussing the documentation of death, disease and insanity.
While none of the work is Witkin's he is the head-editor and his
wisdom and keen insight is remarkable. ISBN# 0-944092-28-4.
Published by Twin Palms Publishers, 401 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe,
New Mexico, 87501. (505) 988-5717. Harms Way sells for $55,00.

If you are looking not only for JPW's photographs but work in a
similar vein then I recommend a number of books. The first is
Grotesque by Mirelle Thijsen (Fragment Pub.) This small book gives
a good introduction to what it refers to as "natural history &
formaldehyde" photography. Such artists as Akin & Ludwig, Olivia
Parker, Manuel Vilarino, and Rosamond Purcell give statements and
5-8 photos each. A good book! Particularly at a cost of $12.95. ISBN
90-6579-089-6 (also available from Light Impressions.)

Others vary in content from mortuary documentation
photography in Sleeping Beauty (Twelvetree Press, 1990, ISBN # 0-
942642-32-5) to post-mortem images and portraiture in Jeffery
Silverthorne Photographs (ISBN # 1-881616-14-2). Other
photographers whose work resembles Witkin's are Erwin Olaf, and
quite frankly many of the artists in Grotesque.

If you are interested in purchasing original works a number of
Galleries represent Witkin, the following are four I have found:

Pace / MacGill Fraenkel Gallery
11 East 57th Street 55 Grant Street
New York, NY 10022 San Francisco, CA 19408

Fahey/Kline Gallery Galerie Baudoin Lebon
148 North La Brea Ave. 36 rue des Archives
Los Angeles, CA 90036 75004 Paris, France
(213) 934-2250

"A" Gallery in New Orleans may have some of his work, I
forgot to ask when I was last there.

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VI. Witkin's Call For Models (by Witkin)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A partial listing of my interest: physical prodigies of all kinds,
pinheads, dwarfs, giants, hunchbacks, pre-op transsexuals, bearded
women, active or retired side show performers, contortionists
(erotic), women with one breast (center), people who live as comic
book heroes, Satyrs, twins joined at the foreheads, anyone with a
parasitic twin, twins sharing the same arm or leg, living Cyclopes,
people with tails, horns, wings, fins, claws, reversed feet or hands,
elephantine limbs, etc. Anyone with additional arms, legs, eyes,
breasts, genitals, ears, nose, lips. All people with unusually large
genitals. Sex masters and slaves. Women whose faces are covered
with hair or large skin lesions and who are willing to pose in evening
gowns. Five androgynies willing to pose together as "Les
Demoiselles d'Avignon." Hairless anorexics. Human skeletons and
human pincushions. People with complete rubber wardrobes. Geeks.
Private collections of instruments of torture, romance; of human,
animal and alien parts. All manner of extreme visual perversions.
Hermaphrodites and teratoids (alive and dead). A young blond girl
with two faces. Any living myth. Anyone bearing the wounds of
Christ.

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VII. Biographical Outline:
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Witkin was born on September 13th, 1939 in Brooklyn, New
York. Educated at Saint Cecelia's School, Brooklyn, 1945-1953; then
at Groover Cleveland High School from 1953-1957. At this time he
worked as a color photography printer until 1961. Drafted into the
military, Witkin served in Texas and Europe as a photographer,
documenting injury and accident (1961-1964).

From 1964-1970 Witkin owned an artwork photography
business in New York City. He studied sculpture from 1970-1974 at
the Cooper Union School of Art, NY, and received his Bachelors. He
pursued his Masters Degree in Photography at the University of
New Mexico-Albuquerque from 1975-1976, and 1978-1985. From
1976-1981 he taught at the university.

He married his wife Cynthia in 1978. Cynthia is a professional
tattoo artist They have one son; Kirsten-Ahanu Witkin. Also with the
family is Cynthia Cook, Mrs. Witkin's lover, and Barbara Gilbert,
close friend and master-pet caretaker. Last but not least are their
three dogs, whom cameo throughout many of Joel's images. Witkin
presently resides in New Mexico with his family

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VIII. Permanent Collections:
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The Museum of Modern Art, NY, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ,
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. SF, CA, Kansas City Art
Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, Victoria and Albert Museum,
London, England, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Holland, Centre
Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, Prinston Art Museum, Prinston,
NJ, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY, The J. Paul Getty
Museum, Malibu, CA, Biblioteque Nationale, Paris, France, High
Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, Akron Museum of Art, Akron,
Ohio, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Museum of Fine
Art, Boston, Mass, Centro De Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain, The
Kinsey Institute, Bloomington, Indianna, National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C., The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX, National
Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Inst., D.C., Museum of the
City of Paris, Paris, France

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IX. About the author
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Well....let see. at the present time I live in Santa Barbara,
California. Home is Columbia, South Carolina...yes that's right...the
SWAMP. I attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
from '86-'91 and received my degrees; a B.A. in Motion Picture
Production, and a B.A. in Psychology. So what am I doing here???!
Well the trend seems to be over educated and under skilled so I am
completing my Masters in Photography from Brooks Institute of
Photography. Quite an interesting place......really . . .

I encourage you to contact me about anything photographic.
Though I don't really want to write papers on the pros and cons of
different developers.....ask about picture takers, ancient works,
modern creations, popular trends, and of course elder evils....But
please post to the news group you found this article on....it takes
quite a few to dance this song. . .

If I get enough feedback and the discussions actually begin I'll
post plenty more......

I am planning my next articles on A) Jan Saudek B) Frantisek
Drtikol C) Erwin Olaf D) Lucas Samaras E) Duane Michaels F)
Sebastiao Salgado G) possibly Arbus or Mark H) Zeke Berman I)
photographers published by Treville, ie. Irina Ionesco, Thomas
Rusch, Claude Alexandere and last but not least Jock Sturges. If you
have any suggestions, comments or criticisms write, write, write.....

Yours in the Bonds,

Robin Hood Dial II
Mar 5thth 1995