City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works School of Arts & Sciences Theses Hunter College 2-1-2019 A Humanitarian Lens: The World War II-Era Photo Books of Thérèse Bonney and David Seymour Jane H. Pierce CUNY Hunter College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/421 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] A Humanitarian Lens: The World War II-Era Photo Books of Thérèse Bonney and David Seymour by Jane Pierce Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Art History, Hunter College The City University of New York 2018 Thesis sponsor: December 14, 2018 Maria Antonella Pelizzari Date Signature December 14, 2018 Howard Singerman Date Signature of Second Reader Table of Contents Acknowledgements ii List of Illustrations iii Introduction 1 Chapter One: Thérèse Bonney 18 Chapter Two: David Seymour, “Chim” 63 Chapter Three 86 Bibliography 91 Illustrations 94 ii Acknowledgements I am indebted to Professor Maria Antonella Pelizzari, whose courses during my time at Hunter helped guide my research and my career path. Her passion for photography is infectious, and her guidance as my thesis advisor was invaluable. I am also grateful to my second reader, Professor Howard Singerman, for his valuable perspectives. I would like to thank Ben Shneiderman, David Seymour’s nephew, for introducing me to his uncle’s work and for providing me the opportunity to work for the David Seymour estate. Promoting the work of this talented photographer has been such a rewarding experience. Carole Naggar, Seymour’s biographer, is always so generous in sharing her research on the life and work of Seymour. Without the fortuitous introduction made by fellow Hunter student Irini Zervas, I may have never known about the work of Therese Bonney. I am so grateful for this introduction. I would like to thank the Columbia Rare Books Library for making Bonney’s Carnegie Grant files available to me, as they allowed me to tell a part of Bonney’s story that has never been told before. I would like to acknowledge MoMA’s library and archives staff, especially Jennifer Tobias, for research assistance and support. The writings of Tom Allbeson and Heide Fehrenbach are incredibly thoughtful and well-researched, and I am indebted to their work which serves as the theoretical foundation for this thesis. Finally, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my parents and to my partner Reid Carroll for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement through my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. iii List of Illustrations Figure 0.1: Cover of Thérèse Bonney’s Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Children in Peril, 1943). Figure 0.2: English edition cover, David Seymour, Children of Europe, (Paris: UNESCO, 1949). © David Seymour/Magnum Photos Figure 0.3: Map of countries visited by Thérèse Bonney for Europe’s Children, 1939-1943. Figure 0.4: Map of countries visited by David Seymour for Children of Europe. 1948. Figure 0.5: United War Fund advertisement, The Indianapolis News, October 13 1943, 19. Photograph by Thérèse Bonney. Figure 0.6: Advertisement in Impetus, vol. IV. no. 11-12, November-December 1950, 22. Figure 0.7: Willoughby Wallace Hooper, “The Indian Famine Relief Fund,” 1876-1877. State Library of Victoria, H2005.34/458. Figure 0.8: Alice Seeley Harris, “Nsala, a Congolese man with the remains of his daughter. She'd been killed and dismembered as a punishment when his village failed to meet the rubber quotas demanded by the imperial regime,” 1904. Figure 0.9: Emily Hobhouse, “Lizzie van Zyl, in the Bloemfontein concentration camp during the Second Boer War,” 1901. Figure 0.10: “A Turkish gendarme prepared to carry the body of Aylan Kurdi, 3, who drowned off Turkey's coast.” September 3 2015. Turkish News Agency. Figure 0.11: Poem by Israel Zangwill, “They Might Be Yours,” The Record of the Save the Children Fund, December 15 1921, p. 107. Cadbury Research Library, Special Collections, SCF Box A670, University of Birmingham. Figure 0.12: "The Children of Europe: A UNESCO Photo Story," UNESCO Courier, February 1949, p. 8. Photographs by David Seymour. Figure 1.1: “Europe through an American Lens,” Times Herald (Olean, New York), October 30 1943, 5. Photographs by Thérèse Bonney. iv Figure 1.2: Installation shot from War Comes to the People at the Museum of Modern Art. December 10, 1940 - January 5th, 1941. Photographs by Thérèse Bonney. The Museum of Modern Art Online Exhibition History, moma.org. Figure 1.3: Installation shot from War Comes to the People at the Museum of Modern Art. December 10, 1940 - January 5th, 1941. Photographs by Thérèse Bonney. The Museum of Modern Art Online Exhibition History, moma.org. Figure 1.4: Installation shot from War Comes to the People at the Museum of Modern Art. December 10, 1940 - January 5th, 1941. Photographs by Thérèse Bonney. The Museum of Modern Art Online Exhibition History, moma.org. Figure 1.5: Installation shot from War Comes to the People at the Museum of Modern Art. December 10, 1940 - January 5th, 1941. Photographs by Thérèse Bonney. The Museum of Modern Art Online Exhibition History, moma.org. Figure 1.6: Pages 1 and 2 from Thérèse Bonney’s Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.7: Cover of Thérèse Bonney’s Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.8: Page 37 caption, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.9: Page 4, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.10: Page 6, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.11: Page 16, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.12: Page 22, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.13: Article by Lesley Blanch, photograph by Thérèse Bonney. “History in the Taking,” Vogue, Vol. 102 No. 1, July 1 1943, n.p. v Figure 1.14: Page 34, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.15: Page 38, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.16: Page 40, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.17: Page 42, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.18: Page 44, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.19: Page 46, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.20: Thérèse Bonney, “Camp of Rivesaltes,” 1939. Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine. Figure 1.21: Page 74, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.22: Page 76, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.23: Page 78, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.24: Page 82, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.25: Page 84, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.26: Page 86, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.27: Page 88, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). vi Figure 1.28: Page 90, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.29: Page 92, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.30: Page 94, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.31: Page 96, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.32: Page 98, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.33: Page 100, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.34: Page 108, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.35: Page 120, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.36: Page 122, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.37: Page 124, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.38: Page 126, Thérèse Bonney, Europe’s Children, 1939-1943, (New York: Rhode Publishing Company, 1943 or 1944). Figure 1.39: Thérèse Bonney, “Can You Read the Story in this Little Girl’s Eyes?” The Los Angeles Times, October 10, 1943, 95.