Whilst looking for information about photographers who were known for their typolgical portraits I came across the work 445 Portraits of a Man.

The work was first displayed at the Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Jersey as part of their exhibition Striking Resemblance: The Changing Art of Portraiture in 2014, and consisted of 445 silver gelatin 3 x 2.4 inch photographs of a man taken over an estimated 20 – 30 year period.

The man in the photographs was Franklyn Swantek, not a photographer but the owner of Swantek Photo Service, which proclaimed itself as “Michigan’s largest operators and distributors of Photomatic.” The images were found by photography historian Donald Lokuta at an antiques show in New York in 2012. Having come across a a few of the images, Lokuta learned that the dealer had nearly 500 and, recognising the importance of keeping them together, Lokuta purchased the enitre collection. Lokuta shared details of the images with his friend Donna Gustafson who was curating the exhibition where the work was first featured. As a result of being featured in the exhibition, a member of Swantek’s family came forward and identified the man in the pictures.

Sources

445 Portraits of a Man | Zimmerli Art Museum. 2020. 445 Portraits of a Man | Zimmerli Art Museum. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu/exhibitions/445-portraits-man#.Xh7GkSPgqUn. [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Rutgers Today. 2020. Identity Revealed of Man Who Took 445 Photobooth Portraits Over 30 Years | Rutgers Today. [ONLINE] Available at: https://news.rutgers.edu/feature/identity-revealed-man-who-took-445-photobooth-portraits-over-30-years/20140615#.Xh7GySPgqUl. [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Design: A Beginner’s Handbook. 2020. Photographic Typologies | Design: A Beginner’s Handbook . [ONLINE] Available at: http://infinitedictionary.com/blog/2015/10/21/photographic-typologies/. [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Rutgers Today. 2020. Mystery Photobooth Portraits Baffle Historians | Rutgers Today. [ONLINE] Available at: https://news.rutgers.edu/feature/mystery-photobooth-portraits-baffle-historians/20140326#.Xh8WwyPgqUl. [Accessed 15 January 2020].