Jan Groover is renowned for her formalist imagery of still life, encompassing household utensils and kitchenware. She pursued her studies at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, graduating with a bachelor of fine arts in painting in 1965. Prior to venturing into photography, Groover taught art at a public school and then went on to pursue a master of fine arts program in art education at Ohio State University. Following her degree, she joined the University of Hartford in Connecticut as a professor. It was during this time that she embarked on her photography journey, replacing her focus on painting with the lens. In her own words, “With photography, I didn’t have to fabricate anything – everything was already there.”
In the late 1970s, Groover began creating her first photographs. These were in the form of color diptychs and triptychs, featuring moving vehicles. With a formalist approach, she aimed to capture time, distance, speed, and color in these images. The closer the vehicle was to the camera, the more blurred it appeared, while a farther distance resulted in a sharper object. Color played a significant role in adding depth to the moving object in Groover’s motion studies.
In 1978, Groover shifted her focus to her kitchen sink for inspiration. She transitioned from street scenes to still lifes of household objects, including stainless-steel utensils, cutlery, bowls, glassware, and even food items. Through experimentation with different combinations of objects, she aimed to achieve a pleasing relationship of shapes, colors, and spaces.
Groover’s approach to still life was a formalist one, as she believed that “formalism is everything.” Focusing on the shapes, lines, colors, and textures of the objects, she often blurred the boundaries between foreground, middle ground, and background. Her enigmatic complexity lies in her ability to create an illusion of depth and space in her seemingly simple compositions. The resulting photographs are a testament to her prowess as a visual storyteller.
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