DOCSLIB.ORG

Socially-Engaged Photography Education: the Social-Aesthetic Discourse Promoted by the New York Photo League Ya'ara Gil-Glazer

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Socially-Engaged Photography Education: the Social-Aesthetic Discourse Promoted by the New York Photo League Ya'ara Gil-Glazer Socially-Engaged Photography Education: The Social-Aesthetic Discourse Promoted by the New York Photo League Ya'ara Gil-Glazer The New York Photo League was an activist group of photo-documentarians working in New York City between 1936 and 1951. The group seceded from the radical Workers Film and Photo League established in 1930.i Like many other artists of their generation, they believed in the power of art to bring about social change.ii The League, which was a part of a wider leftist artistic and intellectual milieu in New York during this period, was labeled as radical organization, and in 1947 was blacklisted by the FBI. Four years later, it was forced to cease its activities due to ongoing pressure on its members, which resulted in a massive withdrawal and financial collapse. The initial nucleus of the Photo League was characterized by the predominance of Jewish photographers. Among the later members there were also many who were Jews.iii These were the sons and daughters of working class immigrants, most of them born in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Bronx or Brooklyn. The League was an intimate, closely-knit group, and their meeting place on East 21st Street was, for some of them, a second home. According to Deborah Dash-Moore, the group was "a type of Jewish organization characteristic of second generation New York Jews," yet the unifying Jewish factor among its members was rarely expressed.iv Socially engaged images taken by Photo League members were exhibited in various public institutions such as community centers and libraries, as well as in their own photography gallery, and were published mainly in class-conscious newspapers such as New Masses, The Daily Worker and PM. During the 1930s, when documentary photography was a new and intriguing term as well as an expanding cultural practice and expression, the Photo League was the only photography school in the United States focusing on documentary photography. Many of the most famous figures in the history of photography, among them Paul Strand, Berenice Abbott, Lewis Hine, Elizabeth McCausland, Beaumont and Nancy Newhall, and Roy Stryker, lectured at the League's meetings and participated in the League's activities. The Photo League's school was a non-profit establishment. Its educators taught basic and documentary photography classes, operated a communal dark-room, and organized public meetings and lectures in which issues concerning photography, and particularly documentary photography, were intensively discussed. In addition, they published a monthly bulletin called Photo Notes. A significant aspect of their photographic work, writing and pedagogy was the combination of a social message with a modern photographic aesthetic. According to Christopher Burnett, the League's advanced photography classes were early examples of "the modern workshop," influenced by the Bauhaus and by progressive social movements. A major characteristic of such workshops was "education as a laboratory." The League's teachers insisted that the students should study through practice, out in the streets, equipped with their cameras and their own sensitivity, and their works were subsequently discussed in class.v While there was much cooperation between the League's functionaries, it is no exaggeration to state that the photography school and educational ideology were structured by and depended mainly on one figure— Sid (Sidney) Grossman. According to the former League student and teacher, the photographer Louis Stettner, the League's approach to photography was essentially Grossman's approach. The photographer Walter Rosenblum, also a student who became a teacher, says that he was "the main motivating force" at the League.vi Grossman, who co-founded the League with Sol Libsohn, conducted an advanced practical documentary course that he and Liebsohn planned together. He also administrated, reviewed, and edited Photo Notes, as well as being the League's executive secretary. In addition to Grossman and Libsohn there was also Aaron Siskind, who led another major documentary group between 1936 and 1940, and others who taught elementary courses. Among the prominent second generation of educators, most of them former students at the League, were Rosenblum and Dan Weiner, but nobody served in this voluntary duty for as long as Grossman, and it seems that none of them was as devoted to it as he was. My post-doctoral research deals with the Photo League's Jewish group in its broader ramifications. The aim of the present paper is to examine and characterize the social- aesthetic discourse promoted by the League through its educational program. Since this discourse essentially consisted of Grossman's influential ideas regarding documentary photography, the discussion focuses essentially on them and on him. i The WFPL itself was split into two groups: Nykino (1935-1937) and Frontier Films (1936-1942). ii The Farm Security Administration (FSA, formerly RA: Resettlement Administration) was part of the New Deal programs for reviving agriculture. The RA/FSA images of sharecroppers, tenants and day laborers that appeared frequently in the popular media were intended to call attention to their appalling living conditions, as well as to the government’s efforts on their behalf. iii Among the League's Jewish members were Sidney Grossman, Sol Liebsohn, Aaron Siskind, Sonia Handelman-Meyer, Rebecca Lekoff, Jerome Liebling, Arthur Leipzig, Ida Wyman, Walter Rosenblum, Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin. iv Deborah Dash-Moore, "On City Streets", Contemporary Jewry 28.1 (Dec. 2008) 86. Most Jewish photographers of that generation, according to Alan Trachtenberg, distanced themselves from Jewish religion and tradition. (Alan Trachtenberg, "The Claim of a Jewish Eye", Pakn Treger (spring 2003) 20). v Burnet refers to classes conducted by Grossman and Aaron Siskind (Christopher Burnett, Focal Encyclopedia of Photography: Digital Imaging, Theory and Applications (ed. Michael R. Peres). Focal Press: Oxford, UK, 2007, 217). The League's educational approach was also defined in Photo Notes as progressive. (Mason Klein, "Of Politics and Poetry: The Dilemma of the Photo League", The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League 1936-1951. The Jewish Museum, New York and Yale University ,2011 , 13). vi Elizabeth J. VanArragon, The Photo League: Views of Urban Experience in the 1930s and 1940s. Diss. (The University of Iowa: Iowa City, UMI, 2006) 159, 163. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951 a N ED
    The Jewish Museum TheJewishMuseum.org 1109 Fifth Avenue [email protected] AN EDUCATOR’S RESOURCE New York, NY 10128 212.423.5200 Under the auspices of The Jewish Theological Seminary teachers. These materials can be used to supplement and enhance enhance and supplement to used be can materials These teachers. students’ ongoing studies. This resource was developed for elementary, middle, and high school school high and middle, elementary, for developed was resource This 1936-1951 New York’s Photo League, York’s New The Camera: Radical Acknowledgments This educator resource was written by Lisa Libicki, edited by Michaelyn Mitchell, and designed by Olya Domoradova. At The Jewish Museum, Nelly Silagy Benedek, Director of Education; Michelle Sammons, Educational Resources Coordinator; and Hannah Krafcik, Marketing Assistant, facilitated the project’s production. Special thanks to Dara Cohen-Vasquez, Senior Manager of School Programs and Outreach; Mason Klein, Curator; and Roger Kamholz, Marketing Editorial Manager, for providing valuable input. These curriculum materials were inspired by the exhibition The Radical Camera: New York’s Photo League, 1936-1951 on view at The Jewish Museum November 4, 2011–March 25, 2012. This resource is made possible by a generous grant from the Kekst Family. PHOTO LEAGUE: an EDUCator’S guIDE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 2 Introduction Overview members were inspired by this social climate to make inequity and discrimination a subject of their work. The Photo League was a New York City–based organization of professional and amateur photographers. A splinter group The early 1940s witnessed the country’s rapid transition from of the Film and Photo League, it was founded in 1936 by New Deal recovery to war mobilization.
    [Show full text]
  • 7.10 Nov 2019 Grand Palais
    PRESS KIT COURTESY OF THE ARTIST, YANCEY RICHARDSON, NEW YORK, AND STEVENSON CAPE TOWN/JOHANNESBURG CAPE AND STEVENSON NEW YORK, RICHARDSON, YANCEY OF THE ARTIST, COURTESY © ZANELE MUHOLI. © ZANELE 7.10 NOV 2019 GRAND PALAIS Official Partners With the patronage of the Ministry of Culture Under the High Patronage of Mr Emmanuel MACRON President of the French Republic [email protected] - London: Katie Campbell +44 (0) 7392 871272 - Paris: Pierre-Édouard MOUTIN +33 (0)6 26 25 51 57 Marina DAVID +33 (0)6 86 72 24 21 Andréa AZÉMA +33 (0)7 76 80 75 03 Reed Expositions France 52-54 quai de Dion-Bouton 92806 Puteaux cedex [email protected] / www.parisphoto.com - Tel. +33 (0)1 47 56 64 69 www.parisphoto.com Press information of images available to the press are regularly updated at press.parisphoto.com Press kit – Paris Photo 2019 – 31.10.2019 INTRODUCTION - FAIR DIRECTORS FLORENCE BOURGEOIS, DIRECTOR CHRISTOPH WIESNER, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR - OFFICIAL FAIR IMAGE EXHIBITORS - GALERIES (SECTORS PRINCIPAL/PRISMES/CURIOSA/FILM) - PUBLISHERS/ART BOOK DEALERS (BOOK SECTOR) - KEY FIGURES EXHIBITOR PROJECTS - PRINCIPAL SECTOR - SOLO & DUO SHOWS - GROUP SHOWS - PRISMES SECTOR - CURIOSA SECTOR - FILM SECTEUR - BOOK SECTOR : BOOK SIGNING PROGRAM PUBLIC PROGRAMMING – EXHIBITIONS / AWARDS FONDATION A STICHTING – BRUSSELS – PRIVATE COLLECTION EXHIBITION PARIS PHOTO – APERTURE FOUNDATION PHOTOBOOKS AWARDS CARTE BLANCHE STUDENTS 2019 – A PLATFORM FOR EMERGING PHOTOGRAPHY IN EUROPE ROBERT FRANK TRIBUTE JPMORGAN CHASE ART COLLECTION - COLLECTIVE IDENTITY
    [Show full text]
  • Notice Biographique : Bibliographie Arthur Lavine
    Collections du Musée de Nouvelle-Calédonie MNC 2008.10.50 "Soldats français devant la caserne (...)" Collection MNC Désignation "Soldats français devant la caserne (...)" Tirage photographique n&b Création/Exécution Nouvelle-Calédonie : Pays ; 1946 ; Lavine Arthur ; Nom : Lavine Prénom : Arthur Notice biographique : Bibliographie Arthur Lavine : 1923 : naissance d’Arthur Lavine à Trenton, New Jersey, se familiarise avec la photographie dès l’âge de 10 ans grâce à l’appareil photo familial. 1943 : après des études d’art dramatique à l’université de Caroline du Nord, Arthur Lavine entre dans l’armée américaine. 1944 : arrivée en Nouvelle-Calédonie, en tant que technicien du laboratoire photographique de l’armée américaine. 1945 : formation de photographe professionnel de quelques mois à Guadalcanal, lui permettant de superviser le laboratoire photographique de l’armée américaine en Nouvelle-Calédonie. 1946 : de retour aux États-Unis, Arthur Lavine opte pour une carrière de photographe professionnel. 1947 : il complète ses études dans le Maine les années suivantes sous la direction de grands photographes américains, dont Clarence H. White Jr. Après de nombreux aller-retour vers New-York, pour répondre à des commandes provenant de magazines ou d’agences, il s’y installe en 1950, où il prend part au dynamisme et à la créativité de la photographie de reportage. Cette année là et les suivantes, il rejoint les équipes photographiques de plusieurs grands établissements américains, la Western Electric Compagny, la Chase Manhattan Bank’s dont il dirige le département photographique. Expositions choisies : 2008 : Arthur Lavine photographe. Nouvelle-Calédonie : première source d’inspiration. Arthur Lavine’s Pacific Inspiration : Early Photographs in New Caledonia.
    [Show full text]
  • Catalogue 201 To
    Lots 201 - 210 Lot #201: ANTOINETTE HERVEY (1857-1945): NUDE BOY, 1921 Platinum print, 9 1/4 x 7 in. (sight), 9 3/8 x 7 1/16 in. (sheet), signed below mat, label on verso. Estimate: $ 400.00 - $ 600.00 Lot #202: KENNETH DUDLEY SMITH (1896-1965): "TIED UP, HAVANA" Gelatin silver toned print, 12 1/4 x 10 1/4 in. (sheet), titled and stamped. Estimate: $ 500.00 - $ 700.00 Lot #203: ESTHER BUBLEY (1922-1998): CLASSROOM PLEDGING ALLEGIANCE Gelatin silver print, 10 x 9 1/8 in. (sheet), signed and stamped on verso. Estimate: $ 500.00 - $ 700.00 Lot #204: DOROTHEA LANGE (1895-1965): PORTRAIT OF A CHILD PEA PICKER Gelatin silver print, 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (sight). Estimate: $ 3000.00 - $ 5000.00 Lot #205: ILSE BING (1899-1998): GIRL WITH DOLL AND COMB Gelatin silver print, 19 3/4 x 14 1/2 in. (sheet), signed and dated 1953 Estimate: $ 500.00 - $ 700.00 Lot #206: ILSE BING (1899-1998): "PATRICE AVEC BATEAU" Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in. (image, sight), signed and dated 1952. Estimate: $ 800.00 - $ 1200.00 Lot #207: ANTON BRUEHL (1900-1982): "YOUNG GIRL, CANAAN, CT. 1924" Platinum print, 8 x 9 3/4 in. (image), signed in pencil on the mount and signed, titled and dated on the verso. Estimate: $ 300.00 - $ 500.00 Lot #208: ALFRED STIEGLITZ (1864-1946): "CITY OF AMBITION" Photogravure, 11 5/8 x 7 5/8 in. (sheet). Estimate: $ 500.00 - $ 700.00 Lot #209: ALFRED STIEGLITZ (1864-1946): THE SWIMMING LESSON Photogravure, 8 x 11 in.
    [Show full text]
  • Photographs New York I April 5, 2019
    Photographs New York I April 5, 2019 Photographs New York | Friday April 5, 2019, at 2pm EST BONHAMS LIVE ONLINE BIDDING IS INQUIRIES ILLUSTRATIONS 580 Madison Avenue AVAILABLE FOR THIS SALE Laura Paterson Front cover: lot 30 New York, New York 10022 Please email bids.us@bonhams. Director, Photographs Inside front cover: lot 104 bonhams.com com with “Live bidding” in +1 (917) 838 3299 Session page: lot 129 the subject line 48hrs before [email protected] Inside back cover: lot 47 PREVIEW the auction to register for this Back cover: lot 82 New York service. Elizabeth Meyer Junior Specialist Saturday March 30, 12pm to 5pm REGISTRATION Bidding by telephone will only be +1 (917) 206 1619 Sunday March 31, 12pm to 5pm IMPORTANT NOTICE accepted on a lot with a lower [email protected] Monday April 1, 10am to 5pm Please note that all customers, estimate in excess of $1000 Tuesday April 2, 10am to 5pm irrespective of any previous activity Kate Cheney Wednesday April 3, 10am to 5pm with Bonhams, are required to Please see pages 176 to 179 Administrator Thursday April 4, 10am to 5pm complete the Bidder Registration for bidder information including +1 (917) 206 1632 Friday April 5, 10am to 12pm Form in advance of the sale. The Conditions of Sale, after-sale [email protected] form can be found at the back collection and shipment. All BIDS of every catalogue and on our items listed on page 179, will be SALE INCLUDING website at www.bonhams.com +1 (212) 644 9001 transferred to off-site storage COLLECTIONS OF and should be returned by email or +1 (212) 644 9009 fax along with all other items • An Important Miami Collection post to the specialist department [email protected] purchased, if not removed by • The Archives of Galerie Gérard or to the bids department at 5pm Tuesday 9 April.
    [Show full text]
  • Edward Steichen Family of Man
    Edward steichen family of man Continue The documentary heritage presented by Luxembourg and recommended for inclusion in the World Memory Register in 2003.The Family of Man is an exhibition of photographs set by Edward J. Steichen in 1955 for the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Offering infinitely diverse images of people living in the 1950s, it nevertheless strongly reminds visitors that they all belong to one large family. The 32 themes, organized in chronological order, reflect the joys and sorrows of the subjects, their satisfaction and their misfortunes, and their fact that they create peace, but also the reality of bloody conflict. They emphasize the role of democratic structures and, at the conclusion of the exhibition, the role of the United Nations as the only body capable of saving the world from the cleansing of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to humanity, and reaffirming the belief in basic human rights, in the dignity and value of man, in the equal rights of men and women and nations large and small (the Charter of the United Nations). Considered the greatest photographic enterprise ever undertaken, it consists of 503 photographs taken by 273 photographers, both professional and amateur, famous and unknown, from 68 countries. The huge enterprise, with unique cultural and artistic aspects, had a significant impact on other organizers of the exhibition, aroused public interest in photography and its enormous ability to communicate, and conveyed a personal, humanistic message that was both courageous and provocative. Although The Family of Man has become a legend in the history of photography, it has gone far beyond the traditional idea of what an exhibition should be.
    [Show full text]