John Jacob Niles Carrying Doris Ulmann Across Cutshin Creek, Near Highdon, Kentucky

Doris Ulmann, 1934

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Artist: Doris Ulmann (American, 1882–1934)
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Size: Image: 20.3 × 15.2 cm (8 × 6 in.)
Culture: American
Museum: J. Paul Getty Museum
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Doris Ulmann and her husband Dr. Charles Jaeger had divorced by the mid-1920s. In 1925 she met John Jacob ("Jack") Niles (1892-1980), an actor, musician, composer, and Kentucky balladeer. By 1927 he had become her general assistant as well as frequent escort on evenings out at the theater, opera, and ballet. As a Park Avenue resident of independent means, Ulmann had a staff to maintain her apartment and provide transportation when needed. However, a knee injury made it difficult for her to carry the heavy photographic equipment (glass plates, view cameras, and tripods) with which she preferred to work.

Niles was hired not only to assist with the equipment but also because he could facilitate Ulmann's introduction to more remote parts of the mountainous Southeast, where she would increasingly spend more time. As one who shared her interest in preserving the culture of the Southern Highlands, he acted as an informed assistant and helpful collaborator. The two were on the road as much as five clement months each year; during the winter months Niles was often away on concert tours with his partner, the singer Marion Kerby. He sometimes stayed with Ulmann when in New York and, under her close supervision, assisted with the printing process.

Niles has been described by scholars and acquaintances as a chameleon. Ten years younger than Doris Ulmann, he was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1892 and grew up on a farm in Jefferson County. His father, a man of many professions, brought folk music of all types into his family's home; Niles began collecting regional ballads as a teenager.

By contrast, he also studied music at the Université de Lyon and the Schola Cantorum in Paris, read poetry for Gertrude Stein's salon, prepared for a career in opera at the Cincinnati Conservatory, and was performing in the New York theater when Ulmann met him in 1925. (For more information about their relationship see 87.XM.89.7) From the 1920s on he would publish more than fourteen collections of music and give salon and stage concerts around the world. The Getty Museum acquired the majority of the Ulmann photographs in its collection from Niles’s family; twenty-three feature him.

Text: J. Paul Getty Trust, CC BY 4.0.