Born in New York City in 1934, Loengard became interested in photography at the age of eleven, when, at the end of World War II, his father spoke of buying a new camera. Loengard began to take pictures for his high school newspaper. In 1956, when he was a senior at Harvard College, Life magazine asked him to photograph a freighter run aground on Cape Cod—an assignment that began Loengard's long association with the publication. Of his heroes, Henri Cartier-Bresson, W. Eugene Smith, and Robert Frank, Loengard wrote "They mixed their feelings with reportage in strong new ways. It was my plan to do so, too."
Career
He joined the staff of Life magazine in 1961. When Life suspended weekly publication in 1972, Loengard became the picture editor of ten semi-annual Life "Special Reports." He was the picture editor of Time Inc.'s Magazine Development Group, planning and launching People magazine in 1974. He was instrumental, in 1978, in Life's rebirth as a monthly. In 1986, that publication won the first award for "Excellence in Photography" ever given by the American Society of Magazine Editors. Loengard continued as Life's picture editor until 1987. He was the author of ten books on photography. He taught at the International Center of Photography, New York, The New School for Social Research, New York, and at workshops around the country. In 2004 Loengard was given the Henry R. Luce "Lifetime Achievement Award" from Time Inc.. In 2005 American Photo magazine identified Loengard as "One of the 100 most influential people in photography." "Photographer and picture editor, mentor and oracle, curator and historian, critic and scholar—over the years, John Loengard has assumed all of these roles," wrote Vanity Fair magazine, "with élan and focus, obstinacy and whip-smart intelligence." He was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame in 2018.
Life Classic Photographs: A Personal Interpretation by John Loengard, Updated With New Photographs,
Life Photographers: What They Saw,. Interviews by Loengard with 44 photographers who were on the staff of Life between 1936 and 1972.
The Great Life Photographers,. Loengard conceived the book, was the contributing editor and wrote the introduction.
As I See It, ;, ; Monografie John Loengard,. A retrospective of Loengard's photographs.
Georgia O'Keeffe / John Loengard Paintings & Photographs,, ; Image and Imagination, Georgia O'Keeffe by John Loengard,, Georgia O'Keeffe / John Loengard Paintings & Photographs ,. Photographs by Loengard and paintings by O'Keeffe. With an introduction by Loengard.
Age of Silver: Encounters with Great Photographers,. Loengard's portraits of photographers.
Moment By Moment,. Photographs By Loengard/
Exhibitions
International Center of Photography, New York City, 1987
