John Stryker

Norma Shoulders, Henrietta, OK by John Stryker, Vintage Silver Gelatin Print

ca. 1940's

John Stryker was born in Rockford, Illinois, on September 1, 1883. He is most remembered for the body of photographs he took of "the Olympics of Western sports" — the rodeo. During his lifetime, Stryker crossed America, working rodeos as an announcer, a producer, promoter and, sometimes, a rider. He invented the chute that the animals come out of, and he developed new ways of photographing action during an event.

Dramatic shots were taken from the ground by propping his camera on the toe of his right boot — right next to a bucking bronco.

Some historians believe that John Stryker was directly responsible for the growth and sophistication of the sport.

His negatives are in the collection of the University of Texas at Permian Basin, Odessa. His photographs were exhibited during his lifetime at the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming, and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas. His photographs have been published widely, including in Life, Look, The Cattleman, The Western Horseman and The American Quarter Horse Journal. In 1977, The Rodeo of John Addison Stryker was published by Encino Press in Austin, featuring many of his famous images, with an introduction written by Ron Tyler, former director of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

(Biography provided by PDNB Gallery)