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John Kobal
George Hurrell, 1982 |
John Kobal was very keen to find a way in which he could see his own enthusiasm for photography continued after his death. In 1990 he formed a charitable foundation - The John Kobal Foundation - to which he donated the photographic negatives and fine art photographs that he had collected over the years. These provide a source of income that is used by the foundation to encourage interest in and help advance the general public's appreciation and awareness of photography and particularly the area which most interested John - the art of portrait photography.
Since John's death in October 1991, the foundation first pursued this aim through the John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award, an annual award for the best portrait photograph, which encouraged new endeavour in this field. The award, in association with the National Portrait Gallery, ran for ten years from 1993-2002 and was regarded as the most prestigious award devoted to portrait photography in the UK, drawing well over 200,000 people to the National Portrait Gallery exhibition every year.
The foundation continues to encourage not only emerging photographers but also new concepts and technical developments in portrait photography. It achieves this through the grant of discretionary awards to photographers and/or photographic galleries or organisations to help towards the costs of undertaking photographic projects, mounting exhibitions and research.
In recent years, the foundation sponsored the John Kobal Book Award in association with the Royal Photographic Society, and
has awarded the first John Kobal New Work Award, a grant to aid the commission of a new photographic body of work, to the
internationally renowned Whitechapel Gallery in London.
The foundation is also one of the sponsors of the annual National Media Museum, Bradford, bursary awards for emerging photographers.
The Board of Trustees of The John Kobal Foundation:
- Simon Crocker (Chairman)
- Robert Dance
- Rupert Grey
- Michael Hoppen
- Liz Jobey
- Monika Kobal
- Michael Mack
- Terence Pepper
- Joanna Pitman
- Aidan Sullivan
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