John Bigelow Taylor Explained

John Bigelow Taylor
Occupation:	photographer
Spouse:	Dianne Dubler

John Bigelow Taylor (c. 1950)^[1] is a photographer of works of art based in New York City.^[1] Along with his wife Dianne Dubler, Taylor is known for publishing photographic monographs on a diverse range of subjects including architecture and interior design, as well as collections of jewelry and fine art.^{[1] [2]}

His work has been described as "superb"^[3] by John Boardman of The New York Review of Books and "impressive"^[4] by Marie Arana-Ward of The Washington Post.

Career

In the early 1970s John Bigelow Taylor and his partner, Dianne Dubler, traveled throughout southern Asia; the couple documented the peoples, cultures and locations they encountered while traveling and living in India, Afghanistan and Nepal.^[2] After their travels in Asia, Taylor and Dubler were advised by their friend, Gillett Griffin, then curator of pre-Columbian art at Princeton University Art Museum.^[5] to concentrate on the photography of works of art. Taylor and Dubler have stated that Griffin's encouragement and guidance greatly contributed to Taylor's career as a still life photographer of art, antiquities and architecture.^[5]

Taylor later collaborated with publisher Harry N. Abrams on several books including "Wisdom and Compassion : The Sacred Art of Tibet" (1991) featuring photographs of Tibetan sculpture, tapestries and sand mandalas,^[6] The Cycladic Spirit (1991) featuring Cycladic art from the Goulandris Collection in Athens,^[3] The White House Collection of American Crafts (1995) with Hillary Clinton, Gold Without Boundaries (1998), featuring sculpture and gold work by the artist Daniel Brush^[7] and Waddesdon Manor : The Heritage of a Rothschild House (2010), a one-year study of Ferdinand de Rothschild's Waddesdon Manor.^[1]

In 1991 Taylor and Dubler established Kubaba books, a publishing company devoted to produce limited-edition photography books.^[2] In an interview with the authors of Design Entrepreneur: Turning Graphic Design Into Goods That Sell, when asked about the origin of the company's name, Dubler explained: "Kubaba was the earliest Indo-European name for the great mother-goddess of Anatolia."

Inspired by their work on the book Waddesdon Manor : The Heritage of a Rothschild House produced for Scala Art Publishers, Kubaba's focus since 2010 shifted towards producing books that document their clients' private homes and estates;^[1] some of these clients have included Jane Stieren and her husband Bill N. Lacy, a former president of the Cooper Union and former executive director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, as well as Anne Sidamon-Eristoff, a former chairman of the American Museum of Natural History.^[1]

Taylor also specializes in jewelry photography as demonstrated in photographs of Elizabeth Taylor's collection for Simon & Schuster's My Love Affair With Jewelry (2002), as well as Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box (2009), a catalog of brooches belonging to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.^[1]

Books

• Within the Underworld Sky: Mimbres Ceramic Art in Context, June 1984, 162 pages,
• Pre-Columbian Art from the Ernest Erickson Collection at the American Museum of Natural History, January 1988,
• The Cycladic Spirit: Masterpieces from the Nicholas P. Goulandris Collection, September 1991, 207 pages,
• The Inca Empire and Its Andean Origins, October 1993, 251 pages,
• The Currency of Fame: Portrait Medals of the Renaissance, March 1994, 424 pages,
• The Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry, September 1994, 256 pages,
• Judith Leiber: The Artful Handbag, March 1995, 159 pages,
• Swarovski: The Magic of Crystal, April 1995, 158 pages,
• The White House Collection of American Crafts, April 1995, 128 pages,
• Masterpieces of American Indian Art: From the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection, September 1995, 96 pages,
• Learning from the Dalai Lama: Secrets of the Wheel of Time, October 1995, 40 pages,
• Gioielli Etnici: Africa, Asia, Americhe, Oceania dalla Collezione di Colette e Jean-Pierre Ghysels, January 1996, 294 pages,
• The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, March 1996, 344 pages,
• Art in the Frick Collection: Paintings, Sculpture, Decorative Arts, September 1996, 208 pages,
• Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, September 1996, 488 pages,
• Kenneth Jay Lane: Faking It, September 1996, 160 pages,
• Paul J. Stankard: Homage to Nature, October 1996, 160 pages,
• Recycled Re-Seen: Folk Art from the Global Scrap Heap, October 1996, 208 pages,
• Venetian Glass: Confections in Glass 1855-1914, March 1998, 128 pages,
• Daniel Brush: Gold Without Boundaries, September 1998, 275 pages,
• Schmuck: Kostbarkeiten aus Afrika, Asien, Ozeanien und Amerika aus der Sammlung Ghysels, January 1999, 287 pages,
• Crosscurrents: Masterpieces of East Asian Art from New York Private Collections, March 1999, 195 pages,
• Evidence: The Art of Candy Jernigan, July 1999, 176 pages,
• Masterpieces of American Furniture from the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, July 1999, 171 pages,
• Meyer Schapiro: His Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture, March 2000, 256 pages,
• Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, September 2000, 488 pages,
• The Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry: From the Colette and Jean-Pierre Ghysels Collection, March 2001, 256 pages,
• Waddesdon Manor: The Heritage of a Rothschild House, May 2002, 320 pages,
• Divine Presence: Arts of India and the Himalayas, August 2003, 180 pages,
• Cincinnati Art-Carved Furniture and Interiors, November 2003, 295 pages,
• Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry, December 2003, 240 pages,
• A Walk through the Ages: Chinese Archaic Art from the Sondra Landy Gross Collection, January 2004, 224 pages,
• New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, January 2005, 629 pages,
• Ferdinand Richardt: Drawings of America, 1855-1859, February 2007, 80 pages,
• Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box, September 2009, 176 pages,

Photographic exhibitions

• Microcosm: The New York Chinese Scholar's Garden, curated by Christophe W. Mao and Judith Whitbeck, Chinese Scholar's Garden at the Staten Island Botanical Garden, April 26–28, 2002
• The Armory Wall: A Tribute to September 11, ongoing traveling exhibition

External links

• John Bigelow Taylor's official website
• Official website for Kubaba

Notes and References

1. News: Fabrikant . Geraldine . December 17, 2014 . Your Home on a Coffee Table . New York Times . December 27, 2014.
2. Book: Heller . Steven . Talarico . Lita . 2008 . Design Entrepreneur: Turning Graphic Design Into Goods That Sell . Quayside . 211 . 9781616736491 . December 27, 2014.
3. Boardman . John . January 16, 1992 . Idolizing . The New York Review of Books . December 27, 2014.
4. News: Arana-Ward . Marie . December 5, 1993 . Gifts of the New World . The Washington Post . December 27, 2014 . November 4, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121104090855/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/72206231.html?dids=72206231:72206231&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+05,+1993&author=Marie+Arana-Ward&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Gifts+of+the+New+World&pqatl=google . dead .
5. News: Stratton . Jean . March 10, 2004 . Princeton Personality . Town Topics . LVIII . 10 . Princeton, New Jersey . December 27, 2014 .
6. News: . Exhibit features Tibetan culture . Rome News-Tribune . Associated Press . June 14, 1991 . December 27, 2014.
7. News: . Season's art books range from the classic to the eye-opening . Gadsden Times . Associated Press . December 15, 1998 . December 27, 2014.