Jack Delano

Jack Delano (born Yakov Ovcharov, ; August 1, 1914 – August 14, 1997) was a Russian Empire-born Ukrainian photographer, filmmaker, and composer, who spent much of his life in Puerto Rico. In the United States, he worked for the Works Progress Administration, United Fund, and most notably, the Farm Security Administration (FSA). He wore many hats as he also was a composer known for his use of Puerto Rican folk material, started a television production company, and was a cartoonist, poet, professor, and architectural designer.

Early life Delano was born Yakov Ovcharov to a Jewish family in (now part of Hnivan urban hromada), Podolia Governorate, Russian Empire (now Ukraine). Delano, along with his parents and younger brother, emigrated to the United States in 1923. The family arrived in New York on July 5, 1923, on the SS Homeric, and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after.

Career Farm Security Administration

After graduating from the PAFA, Delano found it difficult to secure a career in painting, illustrating, or music, so he decided to look into a photography program he had heard about through the Federal Art Project (FAP). He had moved to New York and had been freelancing as a photographer at the time, and decided to propose a photographic project to the FAP: a study of mining conditions in the Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, anthracite coal area. Delano sent sample pictures to Roy Stryker and applied for a job at the Farm Security Administration Photography Program. Through the help of Edwin Rosskam and Marion Post Wolcott, Stryker offered Delano a job at $2,300/year in 1940.

Move to Puerto Rico Malaria poster in small hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Jack Delano, December, 1941.

Delano traveled to Puerto Rico in 1941 as a part of the FSA project. He was meant to spend a few days there on his way to the Virgin Islands, but his trip turned in to a few months due to the US declaring war after the Pearl Harbor bombing. This trip had such a profound influence on him that he settled there permanently in 1946. He mentioned being both fascinated and disturbed by the conditions he saw on the island, that he had never seen such intense poverty or met such kind people.

He became highly regarded on the island in time, and there were few Puerto Ricans who did not know who he was, or hadn't interacted with his work (illustrations, cartoons, movies, movies, musicals, etc.) in some way, frequently. on the Puerto Rican folk music called Plena.

His score for the film Desde las nubes demonstrates an early use of electronic techniques. Most of his works composed after he moved to Puerto Rico are notable for using folk material in a classical form.

Public television Delano and two of his friends from the FSA, Edwin and Louise Rosskam, helped to create the Cinema and Graphics Unit (CGU, now known as the Division of Community Education) of the Commission of Parks and Recreation when asked by the governor to create a platform that would use film and graphics to improve education in rural areas.

Selected compositions Orchestral Ofrenda Musical (Musical Offering) for viola, horn and string orchestra (1959) El sabio Doctor Mambú, Ballet for children (1962); libretto by the composer Concertino classico for C trumpet and small orchestra (1968) Sinfonietta for string orchestra (1983) Chamber and instrumental music Sonata in A minor for viola and piano (1953) Sonata for violin solo (1960) Sonatina for flute and piano (1965) String Quartet (1984) Tres preludios (3 Preludes) for piano (1985) "Aves" −10 piezas breves para piano (Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico 1987); Vocal Esta luna es mía for soprano solo, female chorus and piano (1962); words by José P.H. Hernández Me voy a Ponce for mixed chorus (1965); words by José Agustín Balseiro Tres cancioncitas del mar for medium voice and piano (1969); words by Nimia Vicéns, Ester Feliciano Mendoza and Carmelina Vizcarrondo Cuatro sones de la tierra for voice and piano (1974); words by Tomás Blanco Pétalo de rosa, Suite for a cappella children's choir (1993); written for the San Juan Children's Choir Film scores Los Peloteros (1953) Discography Al menos cantos (2022), released by Lexicon Classics, showcases 16 songs by Jack Délano, featuring mezzo-soprano Laura Virella, pianist Alla Milchtein and cellist Kate Dillingham.

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