Janis Family History & Genealogy

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Maria (Cooper) Janis.

Amy Janis was born on October 31, 1969 to Jeannette K Covyeau and Robert m. Chambers, and has a sister Tisa Lynn Covyeau. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Amy Janis.

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Byron Janis.

Joan Marie (Janis) of Denver, Colorado United States was born on March 10, 1958 in Lakewood, NJ. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Joan (Janis).

Patricia Diane (Janis) Wood of Montgomery, New Jersey United States was born on February 27, 1946 in NY. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Diane (Janis).

Christine Anne (Janis) of Poinciana, Florida United States was born on July 18, 1960 in Lakewood, NJ. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Christine (Janis).

Sidney Janis: Born July 8, 1896 Buffalo, New York Died November 23, 1989 (aged 93) New York City Nationality American Occupation Art dealer, writer Years active 1948–1986 Organization The Sidney Janis Gallery Spouse(s) Harriet (Hansi) Grossman Children Carroll (son), Conrad Janis (son), Robin (daughter) Relatives Carolyn Raport (sister), Martin Janis (brother) Sidney Janis (July 8, 1896 – November 23, 1989) was a wealthy clothing manufacturer and art collector who opened an art gallery in New York in 1948. His gallery quickly gained prominence, for he not only exhibited the work of most of the emerging leaders of Abstract Expressionism, but also that of such important European artists as Pierre Bonnard, Paul Klee, Joan Miró, and Piet Mondrian. As the critic Clement Greenberg explained in a 1958 tribute to the dealer, Janis' exhibition practices had helped to establish the legitimacy of the Americans, for his policy "not only implied, it declared, that Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Phillip Guston, Mark Rothko, and Robert Motherwell were to be judged by the same standards as Matisse and Picasso, without condescension, without making allowances." Greenberg observed that in the late 1940s "the real issue was whether ambitious artists could live in this country by what they did ambitiously. Sidney Janis helped as much as anyone to see that it was decided affirmatively." Early life Sidney Janis was born in 1896 in Buffalo, New York, one of five children of a traveling salesman. A talented ballroom dancer, he left public high school in his senior year to travel on the eastern vaudeville circuit. Janis joined the Naval Reserve in 1917 and took courses to complete his high school diploma. After his discharge, he returned to Buffalo to work with an older brother who had a chain of shoe stores. On his frequent trips to New York, he met, courted, and in 1925 married Harriet Grossman, a writer passionate about music and the visual arts. Sidney and Harriet Janis visited as many art shows as they could. Sidney later maintained that visual experience was more important than schooling in developing an understanding and appreciation of art and the artist. Collecting In the mid-1920s, Sidney Janis opened his own shirt company, M'Lord. Its signature item—a two-pocket, short-sleeved shirt that he designed—proved to be very popular. As the business grew and prospered, so did the Janises' passion for collecting art. The couple made annual trips to Paris, where they met Mondrian, Picasso, Léger, Brâncuși, and other masters. By the early 1930s, they had acquired a number of major works by Picasso, Matisse, De Chirico, Dalí, Mondrian, and the self-taught master Henri Rousseau. In New York, Sidney and Harriet Janis became good friends with Arshile Gorky, Frederick Kiesler, and Marcel Duchamp, all of whom often visited their apartment. Career in art In 1934, Janis was invited to join the Advisory Board of the Museum of Modern Art. The following year, nineteen paintings from his private collection were shown at MoMA, and in 1936 they were exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum. In 1939, as Chairman of MoMA's Art Committee, Janis helped arrange the loan of Picasso's Guernica to New York for the benefit of Spanish Refugee Relief. Sidney Janis closed the shirt business to devote his time to writing on art in 1939. He collaborated with his wife Harriet on books such as Abstract and Surrealist Art in America in which he explores the burgeoning styles of art rarely before discussed in America. The work exhibits a wide array of artists who were successful in conveying the surrealist and abstract styles such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur B. Carles, Man Ray, Leon Kelly, Mark Rothko, and Ray Eames. The Sidney Janis Gallery Then, in 1948, when Janis was 52 years old, he and Harriet opened the Sidney Janis Gallery which was located at 15 E. 57th Street in Manhattan sharing the fourth floor with the Betty Parsons Gallery. The gallery soon acquired a strong reputation by mounting scholarly, curated exhibitions of Léger, Mondrian, the Fauves, the Futurists, and de Stijl artists. In the 1950s, the gallery became a powerhouse of contemporary avant-garde art. In 1952, Janis gave Jackson Pollock the first of three solo shows. Also in this decade, the gallery represented Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Phillip Guston, Adolph Gottlieb, William Baziotes, and Josef Albers. In addition to his promotion of the Abstract Expressionists, Janis become the first blue chip gallery to show Pop art. In the fall of 1962 he organized the groundbreaking exhibition, the International Exhibition of the New Realists, a survey of contemporary Pop art and the seemingly related Nouveau Réalisme movement. The exhibition was located in a temporary rented storefront at 19 W. 57th Street. Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, Phillip Guston and Adolph Gottlieb left the gallery as a protest. The Sidney Janis Gallery soon became a leading exhibitor and dealer in Pop art, representing Claes Oldenburg, Jim Dine, Tom Wesselmann, George Segal, Öyvind Fahlström, and Marisol.

Elizabeth Annette (Kissko) Janis of Torrington, Litchfield County, Connecticut United States was born on July 7, 1922 to Andrew Kissko and Veronica Kissko. She had siblings Andrew (Biffo) J. Kissko, John Kissko, Sr., Rose L Zucco, Vera E Babyak, Michael Kissko, Cyril Kissko, and Susan Kissko Dobos. Elizabeth Janis died at age 92 years old on January 1, 2015.

Blanche Agatha (Chmilowski) Janis of Freehold, New Jersey United States was born on November 17, 1921, and died at age 83 years old on August 23, 2005.

He was born Matthew Jablonsk and legally changed his name in 1944 via civil court in Newark, NJ, USA.

Russell D Janis of Orchard Park, Erie County, NY was born on January 17, 1934, and died at age 70 years old on April 23, 2004.

Charles J Janis of Union, Union County, NJ was born on August 20, 1943, and died at age 55 years old on September 1, 1998.

Lucille Janis of Newark, Essex County, NJ was born on May 2, 1905, and died at age 70 years old in March 1976.

George D Janis of Columbia, Howard County, MD was born on December 29, 1918, and died at age 91 years old on October 8, 2010. George Janis was buried at Crownsville Veterans Cemetery Section 8 Site 759 1122 Sunrise Beach Road, in Crownsville.

Rose Janis of Phoenix, Maricopa County, AZ was born on August 18, 1878, and died at age 87 years old in October 1965.

Walter E Janis of Meriden, New Haven County, CT was born on June 15, 1909, and died at age 91 years old on September 9, 2000.

Viola Janis of Toms River, Ocean County, NJ was born on April 9, 1909, and died at age 92 years old on February 1, 2002.

Charles I Janis was born on March 2, 1920, and died at age 69 years old on February 8, 1990. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Charles I Janis.

Raymond Janis of East Brunswick, Middlesex County, NJ was born on June 10, 1905, and died at age 71 years old in March 1977.

Thomas Janis of Medford, Burlington County, NJ was born on January 28, 1921, and died at age 74 years old on April 15, 1995.