League Beginnings Life magazine debuted with her photograph of the Fort Shout Freedom! The Photo League had its origins in the Workers Film Peck Dam on its cover. Concurrently federal funding and Photo League, an organization of filmmakers and supported projects such as Berenice Abbott’s 1937 Photo League Selections from photographers founded in 1930. By 1933 “Workers” photographic record Changing New York and the the Columbus Museum of Art had been dropped from the name. The workers Film documentary work of Lange and Marion Post-Wolcott and Photo League in turn was affiliated with Workers for the FSA. The Photo League in particular provided International Relief, a group active in socialist causes, a wide range of opportunities; women actively The Photo League was a unique, grass-roots collective including the production and distribution of visual participated in leadership roles as advisors, of amateur and professional photographers who were propaganda of the working-class to respond to the members, editors, administrators, guest lecturers, committed to the transformative power of photography themes of capitalism favored in Hollywood. Founded workshop instructors, and teachers. Photo Notes, the in effecting social change. “Upon the photographer,” Walter Rosenblum, D-Day Morning, Omaha Beach, 1944. by visionary photographers Sid Grossman and Sol Sol Libsohn, Hester Street, 1945. League’s official newsletter, references some eighty Rebecca Lepkoff, Lower East Side, 1947. they proclaimed, “rests the responsibility and duty of Libsohn, the Photo League emerged when the still women working in various capacities throughout the recording a true image of the world as it is today.” photographers split from the filmmakers over a John Vachon, and Arthur Rothstein, were also actively published in 1890, probed tenement life on New York’s organization’s existence. Communists and was a front for party activities. By The organization was founded in New York City in 1936, division in ideology. Avant-garde filmmakers Paul involved with the Photo League. In some ways, the Lower East Side. Hine’s photographs of children 1951 the rising tide of McCarthy-era hysteria had the same year as the launching of the Farm Security Strand and Ralph Steiner founded Frontier Films but League was its urban counterpart. Unlike the federally factory workers in the first decades of the twentieth The Red Scare sealed the League’s fate and it was forced to disband. Administration (FSA) during President Franklin remained deeply involved with the Photo League funded and relatively short-lived FSA, however, the century helped bring about child labor reforms. Like The League endured across three decades and by its The fallout from Cold War paranoia had ruinous and Roosevelt’s New Deal administration. Some of FSA’s throughout its existence. Strand in particular was Photo League endured for fifteen years until its demise Strand, Hine was a highly esteemed role model for demise, hundreds of photographers had participated in lasting consequences for many members. Careers were small band of photographers, including Dorothea Lange, revered as a mentor, a member of the advisory board, in 1951 as a result of McCarthy-era politics. It was a Photo Leaguers and until his death in 1940 was a its myriad activities. It was the heart and soul of social dismantled, passports were seized, and Rosalie photographer, teacher, lecturer, author, and editor. democratic forum for dialogue, education, technical presence at the League. Led by influential teachers documentary photography and had ambitions to grow Gwathmey went so far as to destroy her negatives, development, and social interaction and provided the Grossman and Aaron Siskind, the League was united into a Center for American Photography until U. S. fearing that her work might futher impact her husband, Key precedents in American social documentary only not-for-profit photography school in the U.S. The under this progressive umbrella in its shared focus on Attorney General Tom C. Clark declared the League a painter Robert Gwathmey, who was a frequent target of photography include Jacob Riis and Lewis W. Hine. League welcomed all, and many who participated, men confronting issues of poverty and social injustice. subversive organization in 1947. An increase in FBI surveillance. Riis’s ground-breaking exposé How the Other Half Lives and women alike, were first-generation immigrants. While many active in the League found their subjects membership in the wake of the accusation and the Shared darkrooms and exhibition spaces offered affordable in New York City, some reached beyond its urban ori- critically acclaimed 1948 group exhibition This Is the These photographs are stunning pictorial records and means to pursue their art as well as to gain exposure at gins to rural America, South America, and Europe. Photo League were no match for the impact of the visual stories from our history, as well as striking works a time, with few exceptions, that predated photography’s During World War II especially, many members dis- blacklist. The 1949 trial of Communist Party officials whose message transcend the written record. Their acceptance in museums and galleries. persed; Walter Rosenblum and W. Eugene Smith went included the shocking testimony of Angela Calomiris, immediacy resonates today as a potent voice that alerts to the European theaters where they became an FBI informant who had infiltrated the League for us to the present by evoking the past. Shout Freedom! comprises fifty-five photographs by acclaimed war photographers; Grossman and seven years. She claimed that its membership included forty-seven photographers among the hundreds who Charles Rotkin, among others, went to Central and Catherine Evans, Chief Curator Morris Engel, Harlem Merchant from Harlem Document, 1937. were active in the Photo League in the early to middle South America. Columbus Museum of Art decades of the twentieth-century. All of the works are from the collection of the Columbus Museum of Art Women and the League (CMA), which has made a commitment to building its In an era that generally did not support women Photo League holdings comprehensively and cohesively. working outside the home, photography drew Today the collection includes more than 250 works disproportionate numbers to the professional world. from this under-recognized organization whose Because the medium lacked status in the fine-art members chronicled turbulent chapters in our history— hierarchy perhaps it was more open to women from the Great Depression to World War II to the Cold practitioners. Moreover women had historically been War. Shout Freedom! emphatically acknowledges the associated with social causes. In 1929 publisher Henry importance of the Photo League’s contribution to our Luce hired Margaret Bourke-White as the first female broadening understanding of the twentieth-century photojournalist for Fortune magazine, and in 1936 Dan Weiner, Autorama Top Hats, 1950s. Weegee, Manuelda Hernandez Holds Manuel Jiminez in Her Lap. July 30, 1941. American experience. Jerome Liebling, Butterfly Boy, New York 1949. Checklist Unless otherwise indicated all works are vintage gelatin silver prints and bear the credit line: Photo League Collection, Museum Purchase with funds provided by Elizabeth M. Ross, the Derby Fund, John S. and Catherine Chapin Kobacker, and the Friends of the Photo League.

1 Berenice Abbott 12 Arnold Eagle 23 Rosalie Gwathmey 34 Jack Manning 45 Joe Schwartz Shout Freedom! American, 1898-1991 American, born Hungary, 1909-92 American, 1908-2001 American, born Jack American, born 1913 Gunsmith, 6 Centre Market Place Railroad Platform, Shout Freedom Mendelsohn, 1920-2003 Sullivan Midget 2, February 4, 1937 Simpson Sign, New York 1948 or later Violet Greene of West 127th Greenwich Village Photo League Selections from 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches 1940s 7 7/8 x 6 11/16 inches Street Cleaning House, About 1939 8 5/6 x 7 15/16 inches New York City from 16 x 20 inches the Columbus Museum of Art 2 Alexander Alland 24 Rosalie Gwathmey Harlem Document American, 1902-89 13 Jeanne Ebstel American, 1908-2001 About 1939 46 Aaron Siskind The Old Bridge American, born Jeanne Charlotte, North Carolina 8 1/2 x 7 11/16 inches American, 1903-1991 Itinerary: 1938 Friedberg, 1905-2000 1945 Untitled from Harlem Document, 9 5/8 x 7 7/8 inches Untitled 7 1/2 x 9 1/8 inches 35 Lisette Model The Most Crowded Block in the World August 26 - November 7, 2010 Muskegon Museum of Art, MI 1940s American, born Austria, About 1940 January 21 - March 20, 2011 Ball State University Museum of Art, Muncie, IN 3 Lucy Ashjian 22 x 18 inches 25 Morris Huberland 1901-1983 13 1/8 x 10 3/8 inches American, 1907-93 American, born Germany, They Honor Their Sons May 21 - September 4, 2011 Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, IA Untitled from 14 Eliot Elisofon 1909-2003 About 1940-42 47 W. Eugene Smith Harlem Document American, 1911-73 Bread Line 9 7/8 x 13 inches American, 1918 About 1936-40 Child Bride, Age 15, Late 1930s Soldier with Canteen, 7 x 8 11/16 inches Memphis, Tennessee 6 13/16 x 7 5/16 inches 36 Lida Moser Saipan, WWII 1940 American, born 1920 1944 4 Marynn Older Ausubel 10 3/16 x 13 inches 26 N. Jay Jaffee Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street, 13 1/4 x 10 7/16 inches American, 1912-80 American, 1921-99 New York Gift of Richard M. and Two Boys Seated on the Steps 15 Eliot Elisofon Chair with Sign, 1949 Elizabeth M. Ross About 1940 American, 1911-73 East New York, Brooklyn 5 7/8 x 3 15/16 inches 9 3/8 x 7 3/4 inches WPA Cleaned This Area... 1950 48 Ralph Steiner Gift of Steven Nordman Keep it Clean 9 3/8 x 6 13/16 inches 37 Marvin E. Newman American, 1899-1986 About 1940 American, born 1927 Two Cars 5 Lou Bernstein 10 3/8 x 13 1/4 inches 27 Sidney Kerner Halloween, South Side About 1935 American, 1911-2005 American, born 1920 1951, printed later 9 1/2 x 7 5/8 inches Father and Children on Blanket16 Martin Elkhort Mother and Child, 7 5/8 x 9 1/2 inches 1943 American, born 1929 Washington, D.C. Gift of Steven Nordman 49 Louis Stettner 18 x 22 inches Untitled 1946 American, born 1922 1949 10 5/8 x 14 inches 38 Ruth Orkin Men Looking at Concentric 6 Vivian Cherry 8 1/16 x 9 7/8 inches American, 1921-85 Circles, New York American, born 1920 Museum purchase, 28 Rebecca Lepkoff Best’s at Scarf Counter, New York 1951 Children in Button Coats Derby fund American, born 1916 About 1950 16 x 20 inches 1947 Lower East Side 20 x 16 inches 12 1/4 x 10 1/4 inches 17 Morris Engel 1947 50 Erika Stone American 1918-2005 10 9/16 x 11 13/16 inches 39 Ruth Orkin American, born Erika Klopfer, 7 Bernard Cole New York City, Coney Island American, 1921-85 Germany, 1924 American, born England, 1911-92 1939 29 Rebecca Lepkoff Outdoor Concert, Lewisohn Lower East Side Façade Three Children in 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches American, born 1916 Stadium, New York City 1947 Stairwell Entrance Just for Two Now 1948 10 1/2 x 13 1/4 inches 1940s 18 Morris Engel 1947 7 5/16 x 9 5/8 inches 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches American, 1918-2005 7 9/16 x 9 3/8 inches 51 Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Harlem Merchant, from 40 Marion Palfi American, born Usher Fellig, 8 Harold Corsini Harlem Document, 30 Leon Levinstein American, born Germany, 1907-78 Poland, 1899-1968 American, 1919-2008 1937 American, 1910-88 There is No More Time – Manuelda Hernandez Holds Union County, Kentucky 7 3/8 x 9 7/16 inches Brooding Man Wife of the Lynch Victim Manuel Jiminez in Her Lap (Driller’s Helper, J. Danrold, 1950s 1949, printed later July 30, 1941 Cleans Hands with Waste) 19 Godfrey Frankel 22 x 18 inches 21 x 17 inches 10 3/8 x 13 3/16 inches September 1944 American, 1912-95 7 1/2 x 7 7/16 inches Cody, Wyoming, Heart Mountain 31 Sol Libsohn 41 Sol Prom 52 Dan Weiner War Relocation Authority American, 1914-2001 American, born American, 1919-59 9 Jack Delano July 1945 Hester Street Solomon Fabricant, Autorama Top Hats Lucy Ashjian, Untitled from Harlem Document, about 1936-40. American, born Russia, 1914-97 10 9/16 x 13 3/16 inches 1945 1906-89 1950s Interior of New FSA Client 9 15/16 x 10 1/16 inches Bowery, New York 8 15/16 x 13 9/16 inches Shout Freedom! is organized by the Columbus Museum of Art and Arts Midwest. The national tour of this Edward Gont Home, 20 George Gilbert 1937 with One of 11 Children Asleep American, born George Gelberg, 32 Jerome Liebling 7 1/2 x 8 1/8 inches 53 Sandra Weiner exhibition has been made possible through American Masterpieces support from the National Endowment August 1940 1922 American, born 1924 American, born Sandra Smith, for the Arts. 9 7/16 x 7 3/16 inches American Faces, New York Butterfly Boy, New York 42 David Robbins Poland, 1921 1940 1949 American, 1912-81 East 26th Street 10 Jack Delano 20 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches 9 5/8 x 9 1/2 inches Antiwar Demonstration 1948, printed later American, born Russia, 1914-97 About 1941 6 3/16 x 9 3/8 inches Shout Freedom! Miner at Dougherty’s Mine, 21 Leo Goldstein 33 Jerome Liebling 20 x 16 inches near Falls Creek, Pennsylvania American, 1901-71 American, born 1924 54 Bill Witt August 1940 East Harlem Child Cop’s Hat (Union Square), 43 Walter Rosenblum American, born 1921 9 3/8 x 6 7/8 inches 1949 New York American, 1919-2006 The Eye, Lower East Side, New York 6 5/16 x 5 1/16 inches 1948 D-Day Morning, Omaha Beach 1948 11 Robert Disraeli 6 11/16 x 7 9/16 inches 1944 7 7/16 x 8 3/16 inches American, born Germany, 22 Sid Grossman 21 x 17 inches 1903-88 American 1913-55 55 Max Yavno 480 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215 Two Girls Looking in Cutlery Couple Embracing, Coney Island 44 Walter Rosenblum American, 1911-58 614.221.4848 www.columbusmuseum.org Shop, New York About 1947 American, 1919-2006 Muscle Beach, Santa Monica About 1950 7 13/16 x 8 3/4 inches Prisoners, D-Day Morning, 1949 8 x 5 1/2 inches Normandy Beach 7 7/16 x 9 1/2 inches Cover image: Rosalie Gwathmey, Shout Freedom, 1948 or later. 1944 7 11/16 x 9 5/8 inches