Jay Hoops (October 22, 1918–June 20, 2004) was an American photographer.[2]
Early life and education
Jay Hoops was born in New York City.[3] Her father, Herman William Hoops, was a partner at Hawley & Hoops, a chocolate and confectionery company in Lower Manhattan.[4][note 1]
By the late 1940s, Hoops had opened Jay Hoops Studios, a commercial photography studio in New York City, and took photography fashion assignments for TWA, photographed still-life, and did commercial and advertising photography, which appeared in popular magazines and on post cards.[6] During its first years, Jay Hoops Studios also sold enamel-finished cigarette boxes with photographs on them.[7] During the 1960s and 1970s, Hoops focused on architectural photography, taking assignments for Rockefeller Center, Harrison and Abramovitz, I.M. Pei, and others.[2] In the early 1950s, she got a cottage in Hampton Bays[8] and maintained studios in New York City and Schinnecock Hills.[9] In the 1960s, she moved to Hampton Bays full-time and began photographing the local seascape, meadows, and beaches.[2] Hoops' journalistic photography work regularly appeared in the newspapers of eastern Long Island.[10] At the end of her life she was working with digitalized Polaroid.[11]
Hoops became closely associated with Guild Hall in East Hampton, where she regularly photographed exhibitions, productions, plays, and other events; showed her own work; and taught courses.[12][13] She was a founding member of the group Photographers East.[14] She also led photography workshops at the Southampton Campus of Long Island University[15]
Hoops married Richard Clemmer (1910–1980), whom she had met while working as a production assistant on One Man's Family and The Molly Goldberg Show, which Richard produced for NBC from 1949 to 1950.[2][16] An animal lover, she was founding member of the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons.[2] and took pet portraits for ARF's publicity and fundraising materials.[17]
Exhibitions
By 1979, Hoops had participated in many group shows, including one at the Parrish Museum where she won the Judge's Award, and four one-woman shows at Long Island University, Guild Hall, and the Meisel Gallery in New York City.[5][3]
Impressions of Portugal and Spain (with Charolotte Jenkins). "[A color slide program] using a new technique for projecting pictures simultaneously on two screens."[18] (April 1967)
Impressions of Greece (with Charlotte Jenkins), Guild Hall of East Hampton, East Hampton, Long Island, NY, February 25, 1968[19]
It's Never Too Late, group exhibition, Guild Hall of East Hampton, East Hampton, Long Island, NY, September 1972[20]
Photographic Abstractions and Manipulations, August–September, 1992, East End Arts Council[21]
Jay Hoops: Polaroids, Wright State University: The Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries, August 26, 2022 – November 1, 2022, Tracy Longley-Cook and Gary Beeber (curators)[22]
Jay Hoops: a Memorial Exhibition, Guild Hall of East Hampton, East Hampton, Long Island, NY, November 13 – December 12, 2004[23]
