Art Kane

Kane was born in New York City to Russian Jewish parents. Wanting to become an illustrator, he attended the Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture before joining the U.S. Army during the Second World War. He served in an unusual Army deception unit known as the Ghost Army, an incubator for many young artists. At age 26, he became the art director for Seventeen magazine, one of the youngest art directors of a major publication. He began to explore his passion for photography, eventually studying under the legendary Alexey Brodovitch, who "taught a generation of photographers [...] that the creative process should be a full exploration about what was unique in one's own vision". In 1958, he received an assignment from Esquire magazine that launched his career as a photographer, when 57 jazz musicians assembled in Harlem, New York for a group portrait. Later known as A Great Day in Harlem, the resulting image has been described as "the most iconic photograph in jazz history", and was the subject of Jean Bach's 1994 documentary film of the same name. His work was provocative, experimental, and playful, sometimes rejected by magazines for nudity or irreverence.