Photography, creative expression, and the institutional environment: Joseph D. Jachna and the Institute of Design in Chicago

In this thesis, I examine the relationship between photographs created by Joseph D. Jachna from 1953--1970 and his institutional environment by revealing parallels between the stylistic and conceptual changes in his photographs and various administrative and pedagogical transitions at the Institute of Design in Chicago during this period. These transitions included a growing emphasis on commercially-oriented design ideals that opposed the expressive photographic styles taught by the Institute's photography faculty. Despite this changing emphasis, Jachna created expressive and artistic photographs throughout his time affiliated with the school that simultaneously adhered to and subverted the administration's increasingly commercially-focused ideologies. Looking to a variety of his photographs, including his undergraduate work, Water series (1961), and Door County, Wisconsin series (1970), I demonstrate that his photographic interests were more directly affected by the institutional context in which he worked than may be initially apparent when examining these images.