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 Assistant Curator of 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 FRANZ JANTZEN, Hemphill, May-June
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
2024 Southland, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA, April-September
2022 Potomac River Life, Alexandria Athenaeum, Alexandria, VA, 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.
ARTDC art fair, Washington Convention Center
Dig It Al!, Clay Street Press Gallery, Cincinnati
2006 PhotoGenesis, McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA
Permanent Exhibit at City Hall (John A. Wilson Building Public Art program), Washington
2005 Re-Fresh, Hemphill Fine Arts
2004 Opening on 14th, Hemphill Fine Arts
War Or Peace, Warehouse Theatre, Washington, D.C.
2003 The Art of Butler County: The First 200 Years, Butler County (OH) Courthouse
2001 Recent Work by Mennonite Artists, Mennonite USA General Assembly, Nashville
2000 Maryland In Focus: A Photographic History, 1839-2000, MD Historical Society, Baltimore
En Photographiant des Anges (Photographing Angels), Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
1999 Black White Beautiful, Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, D.C.
Our Good Earth: Landscape at the End of the Century, Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, D.C.
1998 Art In The Everyday, Mennonite Arts Weekend, Cincinnati, OH
1996 Sensuality, Rock Creek Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Juried exhibition, Washington Center for Photography
1994 Eighth Annual National Juried Exhibition, The Eye Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1993 12th Annual Washington Area Photography Exhibition, Ellipse Art Center, Fairfax, VA
1992 Washington Invitational III, Arts Club of Washington, Washington, D.C.
1991 Washington Center for Photography, Washington, D.C
The Tartt Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1989 District of Columbia Arts Center, Washington, D.C.
1988 Perceptions and Processes in Photography, MLK 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, Images Gallery, Cincinnati
Adams-Morgan Day Exhibit, Washington, D.C.
ABOUT FRANZ
"Abandoned Barn, State #9 Near Alexander, Maine" 1992
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
"A Digital Photo Journey Through A Family's History", Mark Jenkins, The Washington Post, 6/14/2024
"Art and the City: Franz Jantzen", Phil Hutinet, HillRag.com, 6/14/2024
"Franz Jantzen at Hemphill Artworks", Louis Jacobson, Washington City Paper, 5/22/2024
“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 Museu
2013 Building Portraits of Michael Graves' Department of Transportation Building •JBG Properties
2012 "NYU-DC (1307 L Street): A Building Portrait" • New York University & Sigal Construction
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)
2014 NYU-DC: A Construction Portrait (private publication)
2010 1050 K Street (private publication)
2009 Disambibuation: New Works by Franz Jantzen (exhibit catalogue)
2001 Featured Portfolio, PhotoMetro Magazine, spring issue
1989 "Bumper Crop" (photo essay), Washington City Paper
1987 Featured Portfolio, Photographer's Forum
Education
1986 Bachelor of Fine Arts, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio
