Franz Jantzen (b. 1964) is a camera-based artist living and working in Washington, D.C. In addition to his work as an artist, Jantzen is a commercial digital and photographic printmaker and Collections Manager for Graphic Arts in the Curator's Office at the Supreme Court of the United States. He is represented by Hemphill Artworks, and lives in Sixteenth Street Heights with his wife, Jean. They have two children, Isaac and Sicilia.
Solo Exhibits
2024 Hemphill, March-April
2016 Data, Clay Street Press, Cincinnati, Sept-October
2012 Franz Jantzen: Ostinato, Hemphill, January-March
2009 Disambiguation: New Work by Franz Jantzen, McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA,
April-June
2008 Manifest Order: Assemblages by Franz Jantzen, Hemphill Fine Arts, March-May
2006 Cartographic Assemblages by Franz Jantzen, at The Artist As Social Conscience, Mennonite
Art Weekend, Cincinnati, Ohio, February
2000 Nature Bent Culture Melting: Photographs of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, at Hemphill Fine
Arts,Washington, D.C. July-August
1986 Personal Landscapes and Tools: College Still Lives, College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio (
Senior Thesis exhibit)
1985 Culture and Nature: 25 Photographs of Peaceful Entropy, College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio
Silent Spaces: Photographs of the Cincinnati Union Terminal, Cincinnati Union Terminal
Silent Spaces: Photographs of the Cincinnati Union Terminal, Dionysus Restaurant, Cincinnati
Selected Group Exhibits
2022 Potomac River Life, Alexandria Athenaeum, July-August
2021 OPEN ON K, Hemphill Artworks, Sept-Nov
2017 RE-VISION: Looking Anew At The Kreeger Museum
The Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC, March-August
2013 RePresent, Hemphill Fine Arts, Sept-Nov
Artist-Citizen, Washington D.C., Hemphill Fine Arts, June-July
2012 DC Fine Art Photography Fair, October
Select: WPA 2012 Art Auction, March
2011 Photo Forum 2011, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - Oct. 2011-Jan. 2012
(e)merge art fair, Washington, DC, September
2010 WPA Art Auction, Kazen Center/American University, March
AIPAD Photo Fair, Hemphill Booth, 5th Ave Armory, New York, March
2009 Synthesis: Contemporary Collage, Carroll Square Gallery, Washington, April-June
Economy of Scale, Hemphill Fine Arts, November-December
2008 AIPAD Photo Fair, Hemphill Booth, 5th Ave Armory, New York, April
2007 Site Project DC (public installation), 14th Street corridor, Washington, D.C., June - July
ArtDC, art fair, Washington Convention Center, April
Dig It Al!, Clay Street Press Gallery, Cincinnati, November - December
2006 PhotoGenesis, McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA, Nov – Jan 2007
Permanent Exhibit at City Hall (John A. Wilson Building Public Art Program),
Washington; October
2005 Re-Fresh, Hemphill Fine Arts, July-September
2004 Hemphill Fine Arts, November-December
War Or Peace, Warehouse Theater, Washington, D.C., October-November
2003 The Art of Butler County: The First 200 Years, Butler County (Ohio) Courthouse, Oct-Nov
2001 Recent Work by Mennonite Artists, Mennonite USA General Assembly, Nashville,
Tennessee, July
2000 Maryland In Focus: A Photographic History, 1839-2000, Maryland Historical Society,
Baltimore, Maryland, December 2000 - April 2001
En Photographiant des Anges (Photographing Angels), Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
1999 Black White Beautiful, Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, D. C., July – August
Our Good Earth: Landscape at the End of the Century, at Hemphill Fine Arts,
Washington, D.C.,May – June
1998 Art In the Everyday, Mennonite Arts Weekend, Cincinnati, Ohio, February
1996 Sensuality, at the Rock Creek Gallery, Washington, D. C., September - October
Washington Center for Photography, July - August
1994 Eighth Annual National Juried Exhibition, The Eye Gallery, San Francisco, California
1993 12th Annual Washington Area Photography Exhibition, Ellipse Art Center, Fairfax, Virginia
1992 Washington Invitational III, The Arts Club of Washington
Mennonite Experience: Present Day Expression, at Carnegie Arts Center, Covington, Kentucky
1991 The Washington Center for Photography, Washington, D.C.
The Tartt Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1989 District of Columbia Arts Center, May-June
1988 Perceptions and Processes in Photography, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Public Library,
Washington, D.C.
The Dead Animal Show: A Provocative Exhibition of Dead Animal Imagery,
C.A.G.E. Gallery, Cincinnati
1987 Bicentennial Cincinnati: The City In Photographs, at Images Gallery, Cincinnati
Adams-Morgan Day Exhibit, Washington
ABOUT FRANZ
"Curled Paper Study No. 14" 2021
Selected Collections
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Ogden Museum of Southern Art; The Folger Shakespeare Library; D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities; The Washington Post Corporation; Fannie Mae; Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood, LLP; Hogan & Hartson, LLP; Crowell & Moring, LLP; Ruesch International; the Mennonite Heritage and Agricultural Museum; numerous private collectors
Gallery Representation
Hemphill Artworks, Washington, D.C.
Robert Klein Gallery, Boston MA (1997-2020)
Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco (1994-2015)
Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York (1996-2002)
Selected Articles & Essays
“In The Galleries: Group Shows,” Mark Jenkins, The Washington Post, 8/12/2022
“At Hemphill Fine Arts, A Retrospective That's Bigger Than the Gallery”, Mark Jenkins, The Washington Post, 11/15/2013
“A Quartet of Summer Gallery Group Shows”, Mark Jenkins, The Washington Post, 7/13/2013
“Two Questions For Franz Jantzen”, Archiviphotovist blog, 1/7/2013
“The Best Images of 2012”, Louis Jacobson, Washington City Paper, 12/27/2012
“The Top Ten Local Photography Exhibits of 2012”, Louis Jacobson, Washington City Paper, 12/27/2012
“A Disappearing Town in the Shadow of Big Coal”, Nichole Cohen, National Public Radio's Picture Show, 4/4/2012
“Franz Jantzen's Ostinato at Hemphill Fine Arts”, Mark Jenkins, The Washington Post, 3/2/2012
"Aerial Rites - Franz Jantzen: Ostinato," Louis Jacobson, Washington City Paper, 2/3/2012
"Franz Jantzen's Ostinato: Gallery Opening of the Week," Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post, 1/12/2012
"Collect Call: DC's Top Collectible Artists," DC Modern Luxury Magazine, 12/2011
"Negative Attitude: The Library of Congress Turns the Light Out on Darkrooms," John Anderson, Washington City Paper, 10/26/2011
"Gaga at the Photo Fair," Walter Robinson, ArtNew Magazine, 3/23/2010
"The Year in Photography," Louis Jacobson, Washington City Paper, 12/23/2009
"Distance Learning" (Economy of Scale review), Louis Jacobson, Washington City Paper, 12/16/2009
"Frozen In Time," Folger Magazine, summer 2009
"Artist Embraces Creative Side of DIgital Photography," Brian Trompeter, The Sun Gazette, 5/22/2009
"Franz Jantzen: The Cosmographic Imagination" (catalogue essay), Charles Brock, spring 2009
"The Big Picture" (Dig It Al! review, Clay Street Press), Laura James, Cincinnati City Beat, 10/24/2007
"PhotoGenesis: Fine Prints," Michael O'Sullivan The Washington Post, 1/5/2007
"Works of 16 Artists on View at MPA's Latest Exhibition," Brian Trompeter, The Sun Gazette, 12/7/2006
"DC Adds Local Art to Downtown Palette," Paul Schwartzman, Washington Post Extra, 11/16/2006
"Stream of Consciousness: In Franz Jantzen's C&O Photos, an Eerie Canal," Ferdinand Protzman, Washington Post, 8/3/2000
"Low Bridge, Everybody Down," Louis Jacobson, Washington City Paper, 8/11/2000
"Nature Triumphs in C&O Canal Series," Joanna Shaw-Eagle, The Washington Times, 8/12/2000
Washington Review, Aug-Sept 2000 (cover and centerfold)
Commissioned Work
2018 1050 17th Street: A Building Portrait • The Lenkin Company
2017 Commissioned artwork to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Kreeger Museum
2013 Building Portraits of Michael Graves' Department of Transportation Building • JBG Properties
2012 “NYU-DC (1307 L Street): A Building Portrait” Sigal Construction & New York University
2011 Portraits of Connection and Collaboration • Excella Consulting
2009 “1050 K Street: A Building Portrait” • The Lenkin Company
2006 “Score Center” • The Washington Post
2003 The C&O Canal • The River Inn
2000 “The Investment Building: A Building Portrait” • Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood, LLP
Selected Publications
2022 1050 17th Street (private publication)
2019 "Ghost Light” (essay), Jersey Jazz magazine, Vol. 47, Issue 7, July/August issue
2014 NYU-DC: A Construction Portrait (private publication)
2010 1050 K Street (private publication)
2009 Disambiguation: New Works by Franz Jantzen (exhibit catalogue)
2001 PhotoMetro Magazine (featured portfolio), Spring issue
1989 “Bumper Crop” (photo essay), Washington City Paper
1987 Photographer's Forum (featured portfolio)
Education
Bachelor of Fine Art, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, 1986