J.B. Harter

October 7, 1940 - March 15, 2002

There is a sly amusing and ironic quality about Mr. Harter's work that makes it very appealing.

John Burton Harter was born in Jackson, Mississippi, on Oct. 7, 1940. He grew up in Louisville, KY where his father, Dr. John Harter established a practice in thoracic surgery.

Mr. Harter had degrees from the University of Louisville, Louisiana State University and Hanover College. He completed post-graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, University of Vienna in Austria and Arizona State University.

Mr. Harter worked for 20 years in the curatorial department of the Louisiana State museum and the Historic New Orleans Collections. He was promoted to Director of Collections at the state museum in 1986 and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1991.

At retirement Mr. Harter chose to pursue his art on a full time basis and to travel the world in search of interesting subjects to photograph and paint.

His paintings have received acclaim at showings at the Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation in New York City and in Baton Rouge and San Francisco.

In 1997 Mr. Harter's work was published in a book entitled, "Encounters with a Male Nude," published by Aubrey Walter (GMP). Mr. Harter was preparing a complete book of his homoerotic work at the time of his death. In his will he stipulated a trust be set up in his name, The John Burton Harter Charitable Trust.