All Things Dantzic 

Bio  

JERRY DANTZIC (1925-2006) served in World War II with the US Army and wrote for the Stars & Stripes. ​​He graduated from Kent State University, Ohio, on the GI Bill. A photojournalist from the early 1950s who loved using his two Leica M3​​s and Tri-X film, he attended the Alexey Brodovitch Workshop at the New School for Social Research in 1952. Dantzic’s works appeared in the New York Times, Life, LOOK, the Saturday Evening Post, Vanity Fair, and others, in many solo and group shows, and is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The International Center of Photography, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of Modern Art, among other institutions. A pioneer in color panoramic photography, Dantzic won two Guggenheim Fellowships, an NEA Grant and had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. An adjunct professor of photography for many years at Long Island University and at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, he lectured at many other institutions as well. His very first monograph, Jerry Dantzic’s New York; The Fifties in Focus was published in 2002. Jerry Dantzic: Billie Holiday At Sugar Hill was published in 2017 and was the companion book to his recent Smithsonian Institution ​​Traveling Exhibition Service ​​“Billie Holiday At Sugar Hill: Photographs By Jerry Dantzic” which toured the US for the last five years.  

Event Info 

Behind the Curtain showcases Jerry Dantzic’s ability to capture both unguarded moments and public performances—exposing the intimate reality behind the spectacle and the artistry within it. Featured works span his early student media photography, WWII documentation, cultural portraits including Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill, and landscapes that reveal his evolving eye. Dantzic graduated from Kent State in 1949 with a BA in Journalism after serving as Editor of The Daily Kent Stater. His career demonstrates how a strong journalism education becomes a catalyst for change, using the camera to document history, elevate marginalized voices, and preserve moments that shape our cultural understanding. Dantzic’s legacy continues to inspire new generations of Kent State storytellers. His lens changed how we see the world— proof that Flashes leave a strong imprint in the world beyond campus.  

Event Details  

Time: Opening Night October 1st, 5 p.m.  

Exhibit runs from October 1st until October 15th.