March 30
Art & Documentary
Prior to the 1930s, documentary photographers gave little consideratin to form |
In the 30s, many photographers highly influenced by New Vision and Group f/64 approaches |
Photographers began seeking an even mixture of art and objectivity |
Term "documentary" came into wide use during 1930s |
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Jacob Riis. Home
of an Italian Ragpicker, New York. 1888.
Newhall, Beaumont. The History of Photography.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. 1982.
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Dorothea Lange. Migrant Mother,
Nipomo, California. 1936.
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Dying Race?
Eadward Muybridge. A Modoc Brave on the War Path. 1872 - 73.
Marien, Mary Warner. Photography: A cultural History. Second edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006.
Edward Sheriff Curtis
1868 - 1952
"In Mr. Curtis we have both an artist and a trained observer, whose pictures are pictures, not merely photographs."
- Theodore Roosevelt |
Edward Curtis. Bear Bull-Blackfoot. From The North American Indian. 1926.
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Edward S. Curtis. Watching the
Dancers - Hopi. 1906.
Newhall, Beaumont. The History of Photography.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. 1982.
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"The information that is to be gathered ... respecting the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost." – Curtis |
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Problems in Curtis's approach: |
Preserved his subjects in an imaginary time capsule |
Excluded non-traditional garments that "real" natives wore |
Emphasized "traditional" costumes and artifacts that were associated with the Native American |
Added "authentic" props and artifacts from his studio trunk when not available |
Identified subjects by ethnographic type instead of by individual name |
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Edward Curtis. A Yuma Type. Early 20th century.
Marien, Mary Warner. Photography: A cultural History. Second edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006. |
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More Curtis images
Adam Clark Vroman
1856 -1916
Adam Vroman. The Snake Priest,
Hopi. 1901.
More of Vroman's Southwest
Indian portraits
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Thomas Easterly. Keokuk, Sauk Chief. 1847.
Marien, Mary Warner. Photography: A cultural History. 2nd edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006. |
Edward Curtis. Bear Bull-Blackfoot. From The North American Indian. 1926.
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Adam Clark Vroman. The Snake Priest, Hopi. 1901.
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James Vanderzee
1886 - 1983
James Vanderzee. Couple Wearing
Raccoon Coats with Cadillac, Taken on West 127th Street, Harlem, New York.
1932.
Stokstad,
Marilyn. Art History. Revised Second ed. Vol. 2. New York: Prentice
Hall Inc., and Harry N. Abrams Inc., 2005.
James Vanderzee. Future Expectations.
1925.
James Vanderzee. c. 1920s.
https://www.valentinenewyork.com/images1/Feature-Articles/jamesv2.jpg
James Vanderzee. Jean-Michel Basquiat. 1982.
http://eaoc.blogspot.com/2008/02/black-history-month-salute-james-van.htm
Dorothea Lange. Tractored Out,
Childress County, Texas. 1939.
Cole, Bruce. The Informed Eye. Chicago: Ivan
R. Dee, 1999.
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The Great Depression
1929 -1941 |
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Global economic crisis |
Numerous bank failures and factory closures sparked by the 1929 NY Stock Market crash |
1 out of 4 workers unemployed at a time when most families survived on one income |
Dramatic drop in industrial production |
1931 drought, wind storms and over farming turned the Great Plains into the Dust Bowl |
The New Deal
1933 - 1937 |
FSA. 1935.
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Direct relief, economic recovery
and financial reform |
New Deal programs oversaw loans, flood control, migrant camps, agricultural education, work relief and the creation of the social security system |
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Resettlement Administration (later known as Farm
Security Administration) intended to move distressed farmers into more economically viable service and industrial jobs |
FSA. Man in a Dust Storm. c. 1935.
http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blygd20.htm
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Roy E. Stryker appointed chief
of the historical section |
Historical section's aim was to gather visual evidence in support of the RA's good works and to distribute these images, free of charge, to the nation's news agencies |
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FSA. Families on the road with their possessions. c. 1935.
http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blygd42.htm
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FSA. "Okies" driving to California on Route 66. c. 1935.
http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blygd14.htm
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Dorothea Lange
1895 -1965
Dorothea Lange
http://www.dorothealangephotos.com/images/070316201143_dorothea_lange_on_top_of_a_car_LG.jpg
Dorothea Lange. White Angel
Bread Line. 1933.
20th Century Photography Museum Ludwig Cologne.
Taschen, Koln, 2005.
Dorothea Lange. Men Walking Towards Los Angeles. c. 1935.
http://www.dorothealangephotos.com/
Dorothea Lange. African American Sharecropper. c. 1935.
http://www.dorothealangephotos.com/
Dorothea Lange. Girl sitting on a bench. c. 1935.
http://www.dorothealangephotos.com/
Dorothea Lange. Migrant Mother,
Nipomo, California. 1936.
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"I
saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a
magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to
her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. |
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I made five exposures,
working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her
name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. |
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She
said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding
fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires
from her car to buy food. |
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There she sat in that lean-to tent with her
children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might
help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it."
- Dorothea Lange |
Midweed Pictorial spread using Migrant Mother image. October 17, 1936.
Marien, Mary Warner. Photography: A Cultural History. Second edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006.
"Hands off! I do not molest what I photograph, I do not meddle and I do not arrange." - Dorothea Lange |
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Common print of Migrant Mother |
Early print of Migrant Mother made by Lange
http://livinginstereo.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/MIgrant%20Mother%20by%20Dorothea%20Lange.jpg
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Bill Ganzel. Florence Owens Thompson and her daughters Norma, Katherine and Ruby . 1979.
http://www.ganzelgroup.com/media/ggMigrant.jpg
