With family roots in colonial New Amsterdam, James feels the pull of centuries when walking the streets of New York or byways of the Hudson River valley. His monumentally-scaled exhibition photographs have been described as "suffused with the exalted spirit of the Hudson River School."

As a student at The Rhode Island School of Design, James was drawn to the once fabulous Gatsby-era mansions laying in ruins along the north shore of Long Island. His multi-image slide show, Vanished Long Island, took RISD's top honor, the Bernstein Award. James's first commission was for a show about another threatened estate area. Exhibited throughout New York State, Hudson River Gothic "communicates the need for historic preservation with an immediacy and eloquence not attainable in any other media" (Municipal Art Society of New York).

During the 1990s James produced multi-media shows, books, videos and films for museums as well as preservation and environmental groups. Prominent commissions included The Conservation Fund, American National Heritage Areas, Jackson Hole Preserve, American Museum of Natural History, The Baltimore Art Museum, Albany Institute of History and Art, and The Frick Collection.

Highly visible projects have included Tuxedo Park: The Historic Houses, a 357-page book published in 2007 by the Tuxedo Historical Society. His short film, All the Beautiful Things in the World, shows hourly in a Renzo Piano-designed theater at The Morgan Library and Museum, in New York City.

Recent years have seen the photographer develop his unique style of grand-scale exhibition prints – a format in which James senses a kinship with Hudson River School painters Frederick Church and Albert Bierstadt. Career highlights include two major solo shows in New York City (both at Allen Sheppard Gallery in Chelsea), and acquisitions by the Fenimore Art Museum, The Everson Museum and The Berkshire Museum.

Living and working in Manhattan, home to thirteen generations of Bleeckers, James welcomes visitors to his studio. Guests arrive in a 1920s hand-cranked elevator, warm up by a crackling fire, and enjoy a tour of the artist's latest exhibition pieces.

Bleecker's work is powerful and mature. Technically perfect and rigorously composed, his photographs can reduce you to tears by their beauty.

- Edgar Munhall, Curator Emeritus, The Frick Collection

      

News

In June 2010 a new record price was achieved for a James Bleecker print. Intrepid #2 was auctioned for $11,000 in New York City.

James was profiled in Picture Perfect, a front-page feature appearing in New York Daily News on March 23, 2010.

In July 2009 the Allen Sheppard Gallery set a record price for a James Bleecker print. The 40 x 60 inch mounted print of Washington Square Arch #2 changed hands for $10,000. The print is on view in the lobby of The Siena, 188 East 76th Street, New York City.

An in-depth interview with James appears in the November 2009 issue of New York Social Diary.

Tuxedo Park: The Historic Houses is 352-page book featuring James's work. This lavish book takes readers on a privileged journey beyond the gates an early gated community. (2007, Tuxedo Historical Society.)

New York's Morgan Library offers hourly screenings of James's film, All the Beautiful Things in the World, about financier J. P. Morgan and the world-famous collection he founded.