Mark Jacobs

Mark Jacobs received B.A. degrees in Political Science (1985) from Northeastern Illinois University, and an M.A. in Political Science (1993) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin after a career spent in the photographic industry. His interest in collecting photography began while still a student at the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois.

In July, 1980, Jacobs wrote a magazine article entitled "Postcard Country: Early Autochromes of the Rockies," which re-introduced the forgotten Autochrome process to the general public. Less than a year later he presented a lecture on the Autochromes of Fred Payne Clatworthy at the National Conference of the Society for Photographic Education which introduced the process to the largest group of photographic educators in the US. The following year he organized an exhibition of Autochromes at the California Museum of Photography in California, the first exhibition of actual Autochromes in the US in decades.

Jacobs is the author of numerous textbooks and articles on photography and photographic history. Autochromes from his collection have been widely exhibited and published. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin where he continues to research the history of early color photography and has consulted with The Amon Carter Museum in Texas, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Colorado Historical Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY, The Milwaukee Art Museum, and The National Geographic Magazine. His collection is recognized as one of the preeminent private collections of images and other material related to the history of color photography in the world.

mr.markjacobs@gmail.com