Peter Bacon Hales
Encyclopedia
Peter Bacon Hales is an American
historian
, photographer, author
, and musician
specializing in American spaces and landscapes, the history of photography
, and contemporary art
.
and director of the American Studies Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago
. He graduated from Haverford College
in 1972, earning a B.A.
in English and American Literature. After a time in New York working as a photographer and musician, he moved to Texas to begin his graduate education under the photographers Russell Lee
and Garry Winogrand
. He received both his M.A.
(in 1976) and Ph.D.
(1980) from the University of Texas at Austin
, specializing in American Civilization under the tutelage of cultural historians William H. Goetzmann
and William Stott
. His 1984 text Silver Cities: The Photography of American Urbanization, 1839–1915 charted the transformation of America through the mass-production and distribution of photographs; its Visual Culture
focus on the rapidly urbanizing nation through exploration of U.S. photographers and photographs from antebellum America to World War I
represented one of the first comprehensive studies of urban photography from a cultural-history standpoint.
His attention turned from urban America to the changes in its physical and cultural geography as westward expansion, settlement, and industrialization resulted in a transcontinental American culture. His second book, William Henry Jackson and the Transformation of the American Landscape used the life of a single photographer-artist-writer-explorer-painter whose life spanned 99 years, as a means to trace the changes in American attitudes toward the land. Over the next decades, his work expanded from the history of photography to wider studies of technology, modernization and land use. He published essays, contributions, monographs and catalog essays on topics ranging from the World's Columbian Exposition, methods of rephotographic surveying, and the geography of the art history survey text, to the images of atomic-tests in Life during the Cold War. His study of the "forced cultural landscapes" of the Manhattan Project, Atomic Spaces: Living on the Manhattan Project (1997) was runner-up for the Parkman Prize in American History and winner of the Herbert Hoover Prize in 20th Century American History. He has collaborated with a number of photographers and coauthors, including the photographers Mark Klett
and Bob Thall
; he has also served as a consultant and photographer for two large urban documentary projects centered in Chicago: the Changing Chicago Project of the later 1980s, for which he photographed social rituals of the upper class, and City2000, for which he served as historian-consultant and contributed large-format images of domestic spaces.
In 2006, he published an extensively revised and enlarged version of his first book, now renamed Silver Cities: Photographing American Urbanization, 1839-1939; the new version included more sophisticated studies of race, ethnicity and gender, and extended the work well into the 20th century, including studies of the urban photography of the Farm Security Administration
.
In the beginning of the 21st century, his attention turned to the virtual world, both as subject and as means of gathering and presenting historical and cultural information. With his colleague Robert Bruegmann
, he developed a website collecting and organizing visual documentation of the Chicago built environment, the Chicago Architecture Imagebase http://uic.edu/depts/ahaa/imagebase/; in addition, he has developed a collaborative public-history project on the postwar American suburb, Levittown
, Long Island, http://tigger.uic.edu/~pbhales/Levittown/
He is currently working on several texts, including a continuation of his Silver Cities project entitled Outside the Gates: Intrusions on the American Landscape Since 1945. Further projects exploring the cultural landscape and virtual geographies of America include extended meditations on freeways, contrail
s and airports, the development of virtual environments such as MUDs (Multi-user dungeons), early interactive computer games such as Zork
, and more contemporary incarnations of virtual environments like the Sims
and Second Life
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, photographer, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
specializing in American spaces and landscapes, the history of photography
History of photography
The first permanent photograph was an image produced in 1826 by the French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce.- Etymology :The word photography derives from the Greek words phōs light, and gráphein, to write...
, and contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
.
Biography
Peter Hales is a professor in the Department of Art HistoryArt history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
and director of the American Studies Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Illinois at Chicago
The University of Illinois at Chicago, or UIC, is a state-funded public research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, near the Chicago Loop...
. He graduated from Haverford College
Haverford College
Haverford College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States, a suburb of Philadelphia...
in 1972, earning a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in English and American Literature. After a time in New York working as a photographer and musician, he moved to Texas to begin his graduate education under the photographers Russell Lee
Russell Lee (photographer)
Russell Lee was an American photographer and photojournalist.Lee had trained as a chemical engineer, and in the fall of 1936 became a member of the team of photographers assembled under Roy Stryker for the federally sponsored Farm Security Administration documentation project...
and Garry Winogrand
Garry Winogrand
Garry Winogrand was a street photographer known for his portrayal of America in the mid-20th century. John Szarkowski called him the central photographer of his generation....
. He received both his M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
(in 1976) and Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
(1980) from the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
, specializing in American Civilization under the tutelage of cultural historians William H. Goetzmann
William H. Goetzmann
William H. Goetzmann was an award-winning historian and emeritus professor in the American Studies and American Civilization Programs at the University of Texas at Austin. He attended Yale University as a graduate student and was friends with Tom Wolfe while there...
and William Stott
William Stott
William Stott may refer to:*William Henry Stott , British Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Birkenhead West 1924–1929, and Birkenhead East 1924–1929*William Stott , British painter...
. His 1984 text Silver Cities: The Photography of American Urbanization, 1839–1915 charted the transformation of America through the mass-production and distribution of photographs; its Visual Culture
Visual culture
Visual Culture as an academic subject is a field of study that generally includes some combination of cultural studies, art history, critical theory, philosophy, and anthropology, by focusing on aspects of culture that rely on visual images.- Overview :...
focus on the rapidly urbanizing nation through exploration of U.S. photographers and photographs from antebellum America to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
represented one of the first comprehensive studies of urban photography from a cultural-history standpoint.
His attention turned from urban America to the changes in its physical and cultural geography as westward expansion, settlement, and industrialization resulted in a transcontinental American culture. His second book, William Henry Jackson and the Transformation of the American Landscape used the life of a single photographer-artist-writer-explorer-painter whose life spanned 99 years, as a means to trace the changes in American attitudes toward the land. Over the next decades, his work expanded from the history of photography to wider studies of technology, modernization and land use. He published essays, contributions, monographs and catalog essays on topics ranging from the World's Columbian Exposition, methods of rephotographic surveying, and the geography of the art history survey text, to the images of atomic-tests in Life during the Cold War. His study of the "forced cultural landscapes" of the Manhattan Project, Atomic Spaces: Living on the Manhattan Project (1997) was runner-up for the Parkman Prize in American History and winner of the Herbert Hoover Prize in 20th Century American History. He has collaborated with a number of photographers and coauthors, including the photographers Mark Klett
Mark Klett
Mark Klett is an American photographer. Klett was born in Albany, NY. After getting a B.S. from St. Lawrence University in Geology in 1974 he worked as a photographer with the U.S. Geological Survey...
and Bob Thall
Bob Thall
Bob Thall is a Chicago photographer specializing in street scenes. He is Chair of the Photography Department at Columbia College Chicago. His photographs, of gritty urban street scenes, have been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art in New York...
; he has also served as a consultant and photographer for two large urban documentary projects centered in Chicago: the Changing Chicago Project of the later 1980s, for which he photographed social rituals of the upper class, and City2000, for which he served as historian-consultant and contributed large-format images of domestic spaces.
In 2006, he published an extensively revised and enlarged version of his first book, now renamed Silver Cities: Photographing American Urbanization, 1839-1939; the new version included more sophisticated studies of race, ethnicity and gender, and extended the work well into the 20th century, including studies of the urban photography of the Farm Security Administration
Farm Security Administration
Initially created as the Resettlement Administration in 1935 as part of the New Deal in the United States, the Farm Security Administration was an effort during the Depression to combat American rural poverty...
.
In the beginning of the 21st century, his attention turned to the virtual world, both as subject and as means of gathering and presenting historical and cultural information. With his colleague Robert Bruegmann
Robert Bruegmann
Robert Bruegmann is an historian of architecture, landscape and the built environment. He is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a specialist on the Chicago school , and best known for his research on the architectural firm of Holabird & Root...
, he developed a website collecting and organizing visual documentation of the Chicago built environment, the Chicago Architecture Imagebase http://uic.edu/depts/ahaa/imagebase/; in addition, he has developed a collaborative public-history project on the postwar American suburb, Levittown
Levittown, New York
Levittown is a hamlet in the Town of Hempstead located on Long Island in Nassau County, New York. Levittown is midway between the villages of Hempstead and Farmingdale. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a total population of 51,881....
, Long Island, http://tigger.uic.edu/~pbhales/Levittown/
He is currently working on several texts, including a continuation of his Silver Cities project entitled Outside the Gates: Intrusions on the American Landscape Since 1945. Further projects exploring the cultural landscape and virtual geographies of America include extended meditations on freeways, contrail
Contrail
Contrails or vapour trails are artificial clouds that are the visible trails of condensed water vapour made by the exhaust of aircraft engines...
s and airports, the development of virtual environments such as MUDs (Multi-user dungeons), early interactive computer games such as Zork
Zork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
, and more contemporary incarnations of virtual environments like the Sims
The Sims
The Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity...
and Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
.
Photography
Hales has exhibited widely throughout the United States. His photographs also appear in his own books and in those of other cultural historians.Selected exhibitions
- Fourth Street Photo Gallery, New York, 1976 (solo)
- Just Imagine Gallery, Austin, Texas, 1977
- Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1977
- California Institute for the Arts, 1979
- San Francisco Camerawork, 1981 (solo)
- “Grant Park,” Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, 1984
- Society for Contemporary Photography, 1985
- Edwynn Houk Gallery, Chicago, 1985
- “Descriptions,” Museum of Contemporary PhotographyMuseum of Contemporary PhotographyThe Museum of Contemporary Photography was founded in 1984 by Columbia College Chicago. It is well known for an active program and curating which discovers many emerging and mid-career artists...
, Chicago, 1985 - “Road and Roadside,” Museum of Illinois, Springfield, 1987
- “Road and Roadside,” Art Institute of Chicago, 1987
- “Road and Roadside,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1988
- “The Illinois Photographers’ Project,” Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, 1987
- “Gates of Eden: Americans and the Land,” Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, June and July, 1988 (one-person)
- “Chicago: Inside and Out,” Art Institute of Chicago, 1989
- “Changing Chicago,” Chicago Historical Society, 1989
- “New Photography,” The Museum of Contemporary Photography, 1998
External links
- Peter Hales UIC Art History Department faculty profile
- Peter Hales' homepage
- http://uic.edu/depts/ahaa/imagebase/The Chicago Imagebase Project, begun in 1995 and codirected with Robert BruegmannRobert BruegmannRobert Bruegmann is an historian of architecture, landscape and the built environment. He is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a specialist on the Chicago school , and best known for his research on the architectural firm of Holabird & Root...
] - Levittown: Images of an Ideal Suburb; a project involving the solicitation of materials from founders and residents