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Untitled (Betty Hahn and Jack Okon)
Untitled (Betty Hahn and Jack Okon)
Untitled (Betty Hahn and Jack Okon)

Untitled (Betty Hahn and Jack Okon)

Artist (American, 1922 - 2005)
Date1987-1988
Mediumgelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 19 × 13 3/4 in. (48.3 × 34.9 cm)
Support: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of the Anne Noggle Foundation, 2016
Object number2016.2.16
DescriptionMan at left rear and woman at right forefront at center of composition with dark background. He is wearing a collared shirt with sleeves rolled up above his elbow; his right thumb is tucked into his front pants pocket and his left arm encircles the woman with his hand resting on her right wrist. Woman is wearing a scoop-necked blouse and patterned pants with prominent earring, a bracelet on her right wrist and a watch on her left wrist; her hands are clasped together. Both are looking at the camera with serious expressions.
Text Entries
This somber portrait is of Noggle’s friend and fellow artist Betty Hahn, posing with her brother Jack Okon. Noggle did not encourage her sitters to smile for the camera, believing it to be an automatic rather than an authentic response. In this composition, body language suggests a bond between the two siblings and their serious expressions suggest a shared emotional space. In fact, Okon was in Albuquerque to spend time with his sister after the death of her husband and both were in mourning.  
Jack Okon (b. 1944) was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1970 and lived in Indianapolis, Indiana where he was in residence at St. Matthew Catholic Church in the northeast part of the city. Okon voluntarily resigned as a priest in May 2003 under unconfirmed allegations of wrongdoing. Regarding this portrait, his sister Betty Hahn, says he was in Albuquerque at the time because her husband had died in May of 1987 and Jack came to New Mexico to spend time with her.


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