CHRONOLOGY

1922 Born in Antwerp, Belgium

1934 Leaves parents to travel with a Gypsy Kumpania

1934-39 Splits time between Gypsies/Rom and his parents

1938-42 Attends art schools in Antwerp and Brussels

c. 1940 Recruited by French Resistance as a Gypsy liaison to smuggle food and arms in Belgium, France, and Holland and people through to Spain

1943 Captured, imprisoned, and condemned to death by Gestapo

1943-44 Mistakenly released then re-captured in Spain by Franco’s army while dressed as an SS officer accompanying prisoners on escape routes from Belgium to Spain

1944 Released from Spanish concentration camp and joins Belgian forces in UK

1945-46 Studies international law at the School of African and Oriental Studies, London University

1946 Begins sculpting and weaving

Marries Annebert van Wettum with whom he has corresponded since the age of 11

1947-48 Annebert’s childhood friend, Marianne Citroen, joins them in the UK

Late 1940s First exhibitions Europe

1950 Moves to New York and sets up studio with a 15-foot vertical loom

1951 Marianne and Annebert join him in New York

1950-70s Sculpture, tapestries, and photographs are exhibited throughout the US and Europe

1961 Travels through the Balkans with filmmakers Henry Stock and Luc de Husche

1962, 1965 Selected as the US representative at the International Biennial of Contemporary Tapestries, Lausanne, Switzerland

1963 Only One New York feature length documentary filmed with Pierre-Dominique Gaisseau

1965 Only One New York book of his photographs published

1967 The Gypsies memoir published

AIA commission to photograph religious architecture around the world

1971 Crossing: A Journal of Survival and Resistance in World War II published by Simon & Schuster

Travels to Spain, Belgium, Holland and France

1975 Retrospective in Antwerp, Belgium

1977 Dies in New York

2004 Posthumous publication of The Heroic Present: Life Among the Gypsies

2015 Belgium issues national postage stamp of “Yellow Tantra” tapestry

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021 Children of the Streets: Reminisces of Jan Yoors | Howard Tilton Memorial Library Online Exhibition, New Orleans, LA

2017 Jan Yoors Tantra Series, 1975-1977: Photographs, Gouaches, Tapestries | L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York, NY

2015 Jan Yoors: A Retrospective | Baker Museum, Naples, FL

Charcoal Drawings by Jan Yoors | Fifty-One Too, Antwerp, Belgium

I, Gypsy. The Wanderings of Jan Yoors | Red Star Line Museum, Antwerp, Belgium

2014 Jan Yoors Abstractions 1960s-1977: Photographs, Gouaches and Drawings | L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York, NY

2013-14 Life Among the Gypsies: The Pre-War Photographs of Jan Yoors 1930-40 | Anne Frank Center, New York, NY

2012 Jan Yoors | FeliXart Museum, Drogonbos-Brussels, Belgium

Jan Yoors: Photographs, Drawings and Watercolors | Gallery Fifty One Fine Art, Antwerp, Belgium

2011 Couleurs Shock (tapestry) | Galerie Chevalier, Paris, France

2010-11 Jan Yoors: Harlem c. 1963 | L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York, NY

Tapestries, Drawings and Photographs from the Estate of Jan Yoors | ReGeneration Gallery, New York, New York

Wandering the World City: Jan Yoors’ New York Photographs 1960s | Columbia University, New York, New York

2008 Jan Yoors Gypsies 1934-1944 (photography) | Museum of History and Holocaust, Kansas State University, KS

2007 The Heroic Present: Jan Yoors Photographs | Kenneshaw, Atlanta, GA

2004 Gypsy Photographs by Jan Yoors | The Plight of the Rom Conference, School of International Affairs, Columbia University, New York, NY

2001 Jan Yoors Tapestries and Photographs | The Galleries at CSU, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH

2000 Tapestries by Jan Yoors | Icon20 Gallery, New York, New York

1998 Tapestries and Drawings by Jan Yoors | Lizan Tops Gallery, Easthampton, New York

1986 Jan Yoors Gypsies (photography) | Museum of Natural History, New York, NY

1979 Jan Yoors: Contemporary Tapestries | Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

Jan Yoors: Tapestries | The Clocktower, New York, NY

1975 Jan Yoors Retrospective Exhibition | The Cultural Center at St. Peter’s Abbey, Ghent, Belgium

Jan Yoors’ Fotos | Paule Pia Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium

1967 AIA international Congress on Religion (photography) | Architecture and the Visual Arts, Museum of Modern Art, New York traveled to Royal Victoria College, MacGill University, Montreal, Canada

Tapestries and Photographs by Jan Yoors | The Art Museum of The University of Texas, Austin, TX

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021 Animal House | L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York NY

2019 BRAFA Art Fair | Brussels, Belgium

2018 Portraits | L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York, NY

Coast to Coast | L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York, NY

Mondes tsiganes (photography) | Musée d’Histoire de l’Immigration, Paris, France

Machines for Living: Flamenco and Architecture in the Occupation and Eviction of Spaces (photography) | La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona, Spain

2017 Machines for Living: Flamenco and Architecture in the Occupation and Eviction of Spaces (photography) | Centro Centro, Madrid, Spain

Their Own Harlems (photograph) | Studio Museum in Harlem

Window Dressing (photograph) | L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York

More Than A Picture: Selections from the Photography Collection | National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC

2016 Winter Antiques Show, represented by Todd Merrill Studio | Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY

The Photography Show at AIPAD, represented by Gallery Fifty One | Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY

Paris Photo, represented by Gallery Fifty One | Grand Palais, Paris, France

2015 The Photography Show at AIPAD, represented by Gallery Fifty One | Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY

Paris Photo, represented by Gallery Fifty One | Grand Palais, Paris, France

2014 What Would Mrs. Webb Do? A Founder’s Vision (tapestry) | Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY

2013 Suddenness + Certainty (tapestry) | Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY

2011 Crafting Modernism: Midcentury American Art and Design | Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY

2009 La France de Profil | L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York, NY

2005 Belgian Photography: The Survey Show | FotoMuseum, Antwerp, Belgium

Connecticut Collects (drawings) | Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT

1996 Contemporary Tapestry Biennial | The State Academy of Art and Design, St. Petersburg, Russia

1973 The Hurschler Collection of Contemporary Tapestries | Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, CA

1972 Modern Tapestries by Calder, Miro, and Jan Yoors | Gallery Gemini, Palm Beach, FL

1964 Represents US at the International Biennial of Tapestry | Lausanne, Switzerland

1962 Represents US at the first International Biennial of Tapestry | Lausanne, Switzerland

1961 Contemporary Tapestries | Otis Art Institute of Los Angeles County, CA

1960 The Arts of Belgium: 1920-1960 | Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, NY

1957 Wall Hangings and Rugs | Museum of Contemporary Craft, New York, NY

1956 An Exhibition of Twentieth Century Tapestries | Two-person show with Jean van Noten, Montclair Museum of Art, NJ, Traveled to Everhart Museum, Scranton, PA

1953 Architectural Tapestries | National Design Center, New York, NY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MONOGRAPHS

2023 Yoors, Jan. New York. Gallery Fifty One

2014 Yoors, Jan. Abstractions 1960s - 1977. | New York: L. Parker Stephenson Photographs

1974 Yoors, Jan (text) and Lopez, Andre (photographs). The Gypsies of Spain. | New York: Macmillan Publishers

1971 Yoors, Jan. Crossing: A Journal of Survival and Resistance in World War II. | New York: Simon & Schuster. Reissued 1988. Published in four languages

1967 Yoors, Jan. The Gypsies. New York: Simon & Schuster. Reissued 1987. | Published in ten languages. New York Time best-seller list.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

2021 Casper, Michael and Deutsch, Nathaniel. A Fortress in Brooklyn. | New Haven: Yale University Press

2018 Dean, Debra. Hidden Tapestry: Jan Yoors, His Wives, and the War That Made Them One. | Evanston: Northwestern University Press

2017 Fernández, Horacio. New York in Photobooks | Granada: RM/Centro José Guerrero

2012 Servellon, Sergio; Falino, Jeannine; and Janssen, Elsje. Jan Yoors. | Exhibition catalog. Brussels: FeliXart Museum with Pandora Publishers

2011 Falino, Jeannine. Crafting Modernism: Midcentury American Art and Design. | Exhibition catalog (cover). New York: Harry N. Abrams

2005 Ruys, Christoph. Belgische fotografen 1840-2005. Exhibition catalog. | Antwerp: FotoMuseum Antwerp

2004 Yoors, Jan and Hancock, Ian. The Heroic Present. New York: Monacelli | Press

1961 Contemporary Tapestries. Exhibition catalog. | Otis Art Institute of Los Angeles County shown in collaboration with Dalzell Hatfield Galleries.

1965 Samuels, Charles (text) and Yoors, Jan (photographs). Only One New York. | New York: Simon & Schuster

de Heush, Luc (text) and Yoors, Jan (photographs). A la Decouverte des Tziganes. | Brussels: Université Libre de Bruxelles

INSTITUTIONAL COLLECTIONS

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Austin Museum of Fine Art, Austin, TX

Bank of America, Headquarters, San Francisco, CA

Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas

FeliXart Museum, Drogenbos-Brussels, Belgium

Flaten Art Museum, St. Olaf’s College, Northfield, MN

FotoMuseum, Antwerp, Belgium

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Hubert Humphrey Building, Washington, DC

JP Morgan Chase, New York, NY

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

Ministries Von Kultuur, Belgium

Museum of Art and Design, New York, New York

National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

Red Star Line Museum, Antwerp, Belgium

Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

Shepherd of the Hills Church, Northfield, MN

Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

Weidlinger Associates, New York, NY