Art Kane; Photographer’s Work Appeared in Life

Art Kane, 69, whose 1958 photograph of jazz greats inspired a documentary film that was just recently nominated for an Academy Award. Kane was an up-and-coming magazine art director when he decided to bring together the 57 musicians for Esquire’s celebration of what it considered to be the golden age of jazz. It was Kane’s first professional photograph and ran across two pages in the magazine. Among those photographed were Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie. The photo session became the subject of Jean Bach’s 1994 documentary, “A Great Day in Harlem.” That film was recently nominated for an Oscar for best documentary feature. Kane’s photography appeared in Life, Look, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and he published several books. A popular lecturer and workshop leader, he had served as chairman of the photography department at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. On Tuesday in Lancaster, Ky., of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.