Launching in summer 2027, and then presented every two years, this new programme will offer artists the opportunity to develop their practice, show their work in their first major solo exhibition in the UK and reach new audiences. Looking to the future of photography, this long-term partnership with the John Kobal Foundation places artistic ambition, discovery and the support of emerging voices and talent at the heart of the Gallery’s programme for the decade ahead.
This long-term programme has been made possible by a very generous grant from the John Kobal Foundation, which has supported the work of young and emerging photographers since 1990.
The first John Kobal Foundation Exhibition will take place at The Photographers’ Gallery in summer 2027 (23 June – 26 September 2027) in the Gallery’s second floor gallery space, newly named The John Kobal Foundation Gallery. The first featured artist for the inaugural exhibition will be announced in late 2026.
Learn more about The John Kobal Foundation
John Kobal (1940–1991) was a pre-eminent film historian and collector of Hollywood film photography. The author of over thirty books on Hollywood movies and stills photography, he is credited with essentially 'rediscovering' the great Hollywood Studio photographers – including George Hurrell, Clarence Sinclair Bull, Ruth Harriet Louise and Laszlo Willinger – who were employed by the movie studios to create the glamorous, iconic portraits of the most famous and intriguing stars of the day that now epitomise Hollywood.
Kobal's mission from the late 1960s through the 1980s was to promote these forgotten artists through exhibitions he mounted at, amongst others, the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the National Portrait Gallery, London; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC and LA County Museum, Los Angeles.
The John Kobal Foundation was established shortly before his death in 1990 by Kobal, who donated his personal collection of vintage Hollywood photographic prints and negatives to the foundation to provide an income that could be used to advance the public appreciation and awareness of photography. The foundation pursued this aim from 1993–2002 through The John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award, an annual award, in association with the National Portrait Gallery, London. The foundation also sponsored, amongst other projects, the John Kobal First Book Award, in association with the Royal Photographic Society, and it continued to encourage emerging photographers through the grant of John Kobal New Work Awards.
For more information about the John Kobal Foundation, visit www.johnkabal.org