James Prigoff

James Prigoff

James Prigoff with Brett Cook and his portrait of James at the 1AM Gallery in San Francisco, CA 9/10/2010
Born (1927-10-29) October 29, 1927
New York City, New York
Known for Photography
Spouse(s) Arline Prigoff

James Prigoff (born October 29, 1927) is an American photographer, author, and lecturer focusing on public murals, graffiti, and spraycan art. He has traveled extensively throughout the world documenting these art forms, and his personal archive of 80,000 slides may well be the most comprehensive of any individual mural and graffiti documentarian.

Early life

Prigoff was born in New York City, and graduated high school in 1944 at age 16, was an Honorable Mention Westinghouse Science Talent Search Winner, and was accepted at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was an honor student all eight terms and an outstanding athlete in Track and Field. He received a "STRAIGHT T", the school’s highest athletic award. Graduating MIT in 1947,[1] Prigoff moved into the business world and also took up squash, achieving many National rankings. He was National Champion of Squash Tennis seven times in the 1960s. Prigoff was elected to the Explorer's Club in New York City in 1967. In the late 1970s, he worked with Mark Rogovin and Marjorie Benton, founders of the Peace Museum in Chicago and was an original Board Member for many years.

Corporate career

In 1947 Prigoff was employed in the factories of Shawmut Inc. in Stoughton, Massachusetts. He moved into sales in New York City, and later become President of his division, which was sold to Genesco. He was employed by Genesco for two years before being recruited as Executive Vice-President of Rosenau Bros. in Philadelphia. In 1970, he was recruited to be President of the Sportco Division of US Industries, and in 1975, he was recruited to become Senior Vice President of the Sara Lee Corporation in Chicago. At both USI and Sara Lee, his challenge was to restore profitability to companies purchased by conglomerates that had little experience in the businesses they had purchased. After five successful years with Sara Lee, Prigoff was recruited to join Levi Strauss in San Francisco as President of one of their divisions. The task was the same: To bring profitability and stability to a division that had grown too fast. After three years with Levi’s, Prigoff retired in 1984 at the age of 57.

Historian, author, photography career

In the early 1970s, Prigoff became interested in documenting public murals. He was intrigued by the community nature of the murals, their artistic merit, and their ability to address issues that were not normally found in newspapers, television, and other media. He travelled extensively amassing one of the largest documentations of this art form photographed by a single individual. Along the way, he could not help but notice the appearance of graffiti in New York City and Philadelphia. He began to document that as well.

Prigoff noted the emergence of subway graffiti appearing "above ground", and was interested to see how it had spread across the country, and eventually worldwide. He wrote to his friend Henry Chalfant and suggested that Henry join Prigoff in tracking the art form around the world. Together they produced Spraycan Art,[2] published in 1987. The book sold well over 200,000 copies and is now considered one of the seminal books in the study of modern-day graffiti. Many graffiti writers learned about the art form from reading Spraycan Art, and initially perfected their skills by studying styles found in the book.

Prigoff later co-authored two books on traditional mural art with Robin Dunitz: Painting the Towns – Murals of California,[3] and Walls of Heritage – Walls of Pride – History of African American Murals.[4]

Prigoff has written forewords and assisted in the publication of several books on the subject of graffiti art.[5] He also has written articles for many publications,[6] and his photographs appear in numerous publications and catalogues.[7] Of note, The History of American Graffiti features 48 of Prigoff’s photos including it’s frontispiece.[8]

In 2011, Jeffrey Deitch, Director at the Geffen LAMOCA, curated the ground breaking and record attendance show, "ART IN THE STREETS" with the help of Roger Gastman and Aaron Rose. Prigoff was one of a few photographers included in the show alongside the eminent graffiti artists. Many of his photographs appeared in the catalogue.[9]

In April 2012, the Estria Foundation honored Prigoff, along with Judy Baca and Kent Twitchell, with the award of "Urban Legend" [10] Estria was quoted as saying "James is considered one of the major forces in giving dignity and credibility to an art form that once was considered to be vandalism".

Over the years Prigoff has exhibited his photographs in many cities and has lectured around the world on the topic of public murals, graffiti, and spraycan art. He has also donated thousands of his photographs to historic archives.

Personal life

Prigoff is married to his high school sweetheart, Dr. Arline Prigoff. The Prigoffs reside in Sacramento, California.

Publications

Press

Awards

Exhibitions

1990

1994

2001

2004

2010

2011

2012

Lectures

City lectures in

Donated Historical Archives

References

  1. 1 2 "Former Executive, Now Photographer, Documents Spray-Can Art". MIT.
  2. Prigoff, James (1987). Spraycan Art. UK: Thames and Hudson of London. ISBN 050027469X.
  3. Prigoff, James (1997). Painting the Towns – Murals of California. USA: RJD Enterprises. ISBN 0963286242.
  4. Prigoff, James (2000). Walls of Heritage – Walls of Pride – History of African American Murals. USA: Pomegranate Press. ISBN 0764913395.
  5. Graffiti LA (2007 - Steve Grody) Harry N. Abrams, NYC – foreword ISBN 9780810992986
  6. Essay for the Marcos Raya Book – Chicago, 2004 –
    • Foreword for The Murals of John Pugh" – Ten Speed Press - Kevin Bruce 2006 ISBN 978-1-58008-722-3
    • Chapter for David M Newman’s Sociology" -Pine Forge Press–1000 Oaks Ca.-2004 ISBN 07619-8738-X
  7. "Murals and the Labor Movement"–Das Andre Amerika- show and catalogue – Berlin - 1983
  8. The History of American Graffiti – Gastman and Neelon – 2010 – Harper Design ISBN 9780061698781
  9. Art in the Streets" – Geffen MOCA, LA – Frontispiece and several
    • Photographs – 2012 – Skira Rizzoli ISBN 978-0-8478-3617-8
  10. Awarded the title of "Urban Legend" at the Urban Legends LA.Gallery show along with Judy Baca, founder of S.P.A.R.C. in Venice and world acclaimed muralist along with Kent Twitchell, America’s most respected realist muralist.
  11. "James Prigoff – Graffiti Art Historian". Retrieved 2013-06-12.
  12. "James Prigoff. OAC". Retrieved 2012-08-02.
  13. "APEXER PHOTOGRAPHED BY JAMES PRIGOFF". Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  14. "JAMES PRIGOFF INTERVIEW".
  15. "Photos by James Prigoff".
  16. "Jaime Galindo & James Prigoff". Retrieved 2012-12-15.
  17. "Viewpoint: James Prigoff Tagging: The History of Street Art". Retrieved 2011-06-06.
  18. "James Prigoff on Murals and International Aerosol Art". Retrieved 2010-10-23.
  19. "Seen, Raevyn, James Prigoff & Henry Chalfant radio graffiti interview". Retrieved 2011-03-27.
  20. "AEROSOLPLANET : INTERVIEW WITH JAMES PRIGOFF". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  21. "PAINTING AND POLITICS: JAMES PRIGOFF". Retrieved 14 July 2001.
  22. "Cambridge Arts Council".
  23. "Graffiti: A History in Photographs with James Prigoff (In Conjunction with Barry McGee)". Retrieved 2012-10-19.
  24. "History of Graffiti Lecture by James Prigoff, author of Spraycan Art". Retrieved 2011-07-14.
  25. "The History of Graffiti". Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  26. 1 2 "James Prigoff Lecture "30 Years of Spray Can Art". Retrieved 2011-11-04.
  27. ""Voices of Hip-Hop in Art" examines artists influenced by the hip-hop culture". Retrieved 2011-06-09.
  28. "JAMES PRIGOFF - Photographer/Artist". Retrieved 2000-11-15. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  29. "JAMES PRIGOFF – OTHER WORKS".
  30. "Prigoff, James Slide Collection".
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