Van Deren Coke (American, 1921- )

Van Deren Coke, a native of Lexington, Kentucky, began photographing at age fifteen. He entered the University of Kentucky in 1939 and attended summer classes at the Clarence White School, New York. Coke earned his M.F.A. in art history and sculpture at Indiana University in 1958, and later became Assistant Professor of Art History and Photography at the University of Florida. He served as Director, University Art Museum, University of New Mexico, from 1962 until 1970, when he became Director, International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House. He was Curator of Photography, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, from 1979-1987. An acclaimed art historian, Coke received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1975 and a Fulbright Fellowship in 1989.
- Anita Ogard

Selected Bibliography
Coke, Van Deren. The Photography of Van Deren Coke. Albuquerque: Art Museum, College of Fine Arts, University of New Mexico, 1981.

Coke, Van Deren. Photographs, 1956-1973. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973.

Ehrens, Susan, and Rice, Leland. "Van Deren Coke at 80." B & W (August 2001): 62-71.

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