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Peter Sekaer
Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1901, Peter Sekaer immigrated to the United States in 1918 at the age of seventeen. After successfully operating a printing business in New York City producing posters, advertisements and window displays, he enrolled in the Art Students League in 1929 to study painting. He soon became involved in the New York art scene, befriending, among others, the artist Ben Shahn and the photographer Walker Evans.
By 1934 Sekaer had left painting behind to study photography with Berenice Abbott at the New School for Social Research. Through his friendship with Walker Evans he secured contracts from 1936 to 1943 to work on assignment as a photographer for various government agencies that were created as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal program. In 1945 Sekaer started his own commercial photography business, shooting advertisements and human interest stories for magazines.
In 1950, at age forty-nine, Sekaer suffered a fatal heart attack. His life’s work has been preserved by his wife, Elisabeth Sekaer Rothschild, and their younger daughter, Christina Sekaer.
The work of Peter Sekaer is featured in these exhibitions.
(Select the image to view the exhibition page)
Southern Heritage – Preview
Peter Sekaer – In Context
Politics and the Utopian Dream
Street Talk
The work of Peter Sekaer is featured in these Theme Collections.
(Select the image to view the theme page)
Portraiture – Male
Signage
Urban Landscapes – B&W
Peter Sekaer . . . In Context - Collector's Gallery
Featuring the exceptional photography of Peter Sekaer in the context of other notable artists of the period.
Berenice Abbott Arnold Newman Alexander Rodchenko
Dorothea Lange John Gutmann Rondal Partridge
Sekaer, born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1901, immigrated to the United States in 1918. After successfully operating a printing business in New York City producing posters, advertisements and window displays, he enrolled in the Art Students League in 1929 to study painting.
By 1934 Sekaer had left painting behind to study photography with Berenice Abbott. Through his friendship with Walker Evans he secured contracts from 1936 to 1943 to work on assignment as a photographer for various government agencies.
“Sekaer’s photographs show an outsider’s objectivity and detachment coupled with an insider’s commitment and concern for the subject.”
Julian Cox, Curator of Photography, High Museum of Art
The exhibition was organized to compliment the High Museum of Art’s exhibition, Signs of Life: Photographs by Peter Sekaer.
A Review on Arts Critic ATL can be read HERE.
The New York Times review (6/3/10) of the High Museum exhibition can be read HERE.
