Jack Shear has been a resident of Columbia County for the last 20 years. He has worked as a photographer for over 35 years and has been included in a number of one-person and group exhibitions during this time. He has worked primarily in a medium format and concentrated on black and white portraiture. In 1985 Los Angeles publisher Twelvetrees Press published a monographic collection of Jack’s portraits. He had his first one-person museum show in 1996 at Williams College Art Museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts, entitled “Short Season”. Jack’s work has appeared in a number of publications, as diverse as “Rolling Stone”, “ArtForum”, “NY Times”, “W Magazine” and “New York Magazine”. Jack’s work is included in private collections and museums such as The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City.
Jack Shear (b. 1953) is a photographer, art collector and philanthropist who divides his time between New York City and Spencertown, NY. He was married to the renowned artist, Ellsworth Kelly, and now serves as the President of the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation.
His passion for photography, as an artist and a collector, dates back to his teenage years in Los Angeles. His own work emphasizes portraiture and nudes and is represented in the permanent collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art. His personal collection of photography spans the history of the medium from early Daguerreotypes to contemporary photographers.
In addition to photography, he has amassed an outstanding collection of drawings, both contemporary and old master, and enjoys creating exhibitions that juxtapose works to surprise and challenge the viewer.
Under Shear’s leadership, the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation supports a number of cultural preservation initiatives including the conservation of modern art in museums in the U.S. and Europe and restoration of world heritage sites in every corner of the globe.
In Columbia County, the Foundation created an innovative program to bring the arts into local public schools and train teachers to make the arts part of every child’s education. The Foundation also supports historic preservation, including the purchase and renovation of an 1847 church building to serve as Austerlitz town hall. Major endowments to the Columbia Land Conservancy preserve open space and protect wildlife habitats.
Shear currently serves on the Drawings & Prints Committee at the museum of Modern Art, New York and the executive committee of the museum’s International Council. He is a trustee for the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies. In 2020, he was honored by The Drawing Center for his work as a collector and was named a Prince and High Dignitary of the Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Allada for his support of the Vodoun Cultural Festival. He is also a founding sponsor of “Voices of Alabama,” a civil rights oral history project.