Joseph Jachna (1935–2016) was born in Chicago and began his studies at the Institute of Design in 1953 through a newspaper carrier’s scholarship. After leaving briefly to work at a local Eastman Kodak lab, he returned in 1955 and studied under influential photographers Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, and Frederick Sommer. He earned a bachelor's degree in art education in 1958.
Jachna chose to focus on photography and spent three years creating a thesis centered on the many forms and moods of water. He completed his M.S. in 1961, the same year Aperture magazine featured his work in a special issue highlighting five graduates from the Institute of Design.
Following Callahan’s departure in 1961, Jachna taught photography alongside Siskind until 1969, when he joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle (now the University of Illinois at Chicago), where he remained until his retirement in 2001.
Jachna photographed primarily in the natural environments of the Midwest and Iceland, and his work was exhibited nationally. Among his many honors are fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1976) and the Guggenheim Foundation (1980).
Other works available upon request.
