Photographers of the American Social Landscape, 1963-1976
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ON THE STREETS AND IN THE SUBURBS: PHOTOGRAPHERS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIAL LANDSCAPE, 1963-1976 By Copyright 2013 April M. Watson Submitted to the graduate degree program in Art History and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________________ Chairperson Dr. John Pultz ________________________________ Dr. David Cateforis ________________________________ Dr. Marni Kessler ________________________________ Dr. Stephen Goddard ________________________________ Dr. Catherine Preston Date Defended: August 30, 2013 The Dissertation Committee for April M. Watson certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: ON THE STREETS AND IN THE SUBURBS: PHOTOGRAPHERS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIAL LANDSCAPE, 1963-1976 ________________________________ Chairperson Dr. John Pultz Date approved: August 30, 2013 ii Abstract Three American photographers came to prominence during the years bracketed by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and the American Bicentennial in 1976. Lee Friedlander (born 1934), Garry Winogrand (1928-1984), and Robert Adams (born 1937) each used an emotionally detached, “documentary-style” approach to picture the rapidly changing social landscape of this period. This dissertation brings a fresh perspective to select bodies of work by these photographers. Though each chapter is intended as a singular, in-depth discussion of specific projects, the essays are united by a methodological approach grounded in social art history, rather than the rhetoric of “photographic” formalism as espoused by John Szarkowski, who promoted the work of these three photographers through exhibitions and publications during his tenure as Director of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York from 1962- 1991. The interpretive framework for this dissertation nonetheless retains an appreciation for the unique formal and aesthetic aspects of the photographs as they were informed by the particular historical moment in which they were produced and received. The first chapter focuses on Garry Winogrand’s Public Relations, situating the photographs within the context of a burgeoning critical discourse about the impact of television and the mass media on social behavior as articulated by such writers as Daniel J. Boorstin and Marshall McLuhan. The second chapter reconsiders another body of work by Winogrand, Women are Beautiful, and focuses on Winogrand’s photographs of female subjects on the streets and in the public spaces of New York City within the context of the women’s liberation movement and the sexual revolution. Robert Adams’s photographs of suburban sprawl and industrial development along the Colorado Front Range and the Denver metropolitan area, which comprised three related series—The New West, denver and What We Bought—are the focus of iii the third chapter. This essay proposes a new interpretation of Adams’s photographs as rooted in a long tradition of American Transcendentalist thought and contemporaneous environmentally conscious writing. The fourth and final chapter focuses on Lee Friedlander’s The American Monument, and considers these photographs as they resonate with the themes of history, memory, and patriotism in the wake of the Vietnam War and Watergate. iv Acknowledgments There are numerous individuals whose encouragement and enthusiasm brought me to this point in my academic career. Foremost I would like to thank my advisor Dr. John Pultz, who demonstrated incredible patience and understanding during the long, slow process of writing (and reading) my dissertation while I held a fulltime curatorial position and parented two small children. I also extend my heartfelt thanks to the KU faculty who served on my committee, especially Drs. David Cateforis and Marni Kessler who provided invaluable editorial insights, and Drs. Steve Goddard and Cathy Preston who graciously served as dissertation readers. I also deeply appreciate those in the School of Graduate Studies at KU who granted me the necessary extensions that enabled me to finish my degree. My colleagues at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art have also been incredibly supportive. In particular, I wish to thank Jane Aspinwall, Natalie Boten, and Kaitlyn Bunch, who kindly stepped in without an ounce of complaint when I was writing out of the office. They also listened sympathetically to my sleep-deprived frustrations when the muses of inspiration failed to show up. Keith Davis offered terrific, valuable insights on some not-so-terrific early chapter drafts, and readily allowed me time away from the office to do what needed to be done. His generosity and signature good humor kept me on track. Director Julián Zugazagoitia also kept apace with my progress, kindly granting me a brief leave of absence to complete writing duties. Curatorial collaborators Nicole Myers and Simon Kelly showed enormous understanding as I grappled with the competing, simultaneous deadlines of writing a dissertation and an exhibition catalogue. Drs. Robert Cohon, Catherine Futter, Stephanie Knappe, and Brittany Lockard provided sustained encouragement, good humor, and much-needed perspective during the inevitable moments of panic, frustration, and doubt that arise during the process. Jasmine Alinder, Pat Evans, Bret and Mara Gibson, and Paetra and Gino Serra, have all offered support and fed my family and me v during this long process. For their constant well-wishes along the way, I also thank Philip Heying and Pat Evans. In many ways, the most enduring aspects of dissertation research are the new personal and professional connections made while in the honeymoon phase of the project. Many individuals offered their expertise and assistance. Joshua Chuang at Yale University Art Gallery enthusiastically showed me all of the Robert Adams prints in their collection, and longtime friends Betsi Meissner and Leslie Calmes at the Center for Creative Photography greatly facilitated my research in the Garry Winogrand archives. Trudy Wilner Stack provided astute insights into Winogrand’s work based on her years of research on the photographer’s oeuvre. I am also grateful to Richard Benson for speaking with me about the making of Friedlander’s The American Monument and especially to Robert Adams for answering my questions about his photographs with heartfelt warmth and good grace. Thanks, too, to Eric Paddock, Toby Jurovics, Leo Rubinfien, and Paul McDonough, who all enthusiastically shared their perspectives and personal memories of working with Friedlander, Winogrand, and Adams. My deepest gratitude goes to my family. To my father, Alvin Watson, who never once doubted my abilities to complete this degree, and to my mother, Sheila Watson, who passed away two years before I began the PhD program, I am eternally grateful. My sister Ardyth Watson has also been a constant cheerleader throughout this venture, and even began to pursue her own doctorate in the process. Many personal family memories float beneath the surface of the discussions that comprise this dissertation: the music career my mother put aside to raise two daughters, the cross-country road trips that included stops at every American monument between New York and California, and the Bicentennial sweatshirts we proudly wore on those travels. When I look at the photographs of Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, and Robert Adams, I vi vividly recall these experiences. Perhaps that is why these images have so long been steeped in my consciousness. Finally, to my in-laws Emmet and Edith Gowin, I would like to say thank you for your good sustained wishes throughout this process, and, more importantly, for your son, my husband, Elijah Gowin. Without him there is absolutely, positively, no way I would have completed this PhD. Nor would I have two amazing, wonderful, and happy daughters, Fiona and Violet, who seem genuinely convinced that I can sell this dissertation and make a movie from it. I dedicate this tome to Elijah, whose selflessness, patience, tough love, hilarity, and faith in me are beyond measure. Thank you. vii Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One: Pseudo-Events and Understanding Media in Garry Winogrand’s Public Relations 25 Chapter Two: Rethinking Winogrand’s Women 60 Chapter Three: “To See the Facts Without Blinking”: Robert Adams and the Romantic Tradition in the “New” American West 99 Chapter Four: Lee Friedlander’s The American Monument: Commemoration and Dislocation in Bicentennial America 146 Conclusion 184 List of Figures 188 Bibliography 193 viii Introduction This dissertation aims to bring a fresh interpretation to select bodies of work by three American photographers who came to prominence between 1963 and 1976: Lee Friedlander (born 1934), Garry Winogrand (1928-1984), and Robert Adams (born 1937). Each chapter is intended as a singular, in-depth discussion of specific projects by these photographers. The first chapter focuses on Garry Winogrand’s Public Relations, situating the photographs within the same historical moment that inspired writers such as Daniel J. Boorstin and Marshall McLuhan to address the impact of television and the mass media on the social landscape of this period. The second chapter reconsiders another body of work by Winogrand, Women are Beautiful, and focuses on Winogrand’s photographs of female subjects on the streets and in the public spaces of New York City within the context of the women’s liberation movement and the sexual revolution. Robert Adams’s photographs