The NYTimes.com has an article on an exhibition of color phtographs, from the Depression Era, at the Library of Congress. The Print and Photographs Division of the LoC published ‘Bound for Glory‘, a book of photographs from which this exhibition is extracted. Most, 164,000, of the photos from the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Collection are in black and white, but some, 1600, are in color. The color photographs’ artistic value seemed to have been in question. This issue is still present today in the criticism of photography. As far as color goes, I love the limited color palette of kodachrome. I would love shot some that film stock.
There is a slideshow on the NYTimes.
I really like this image. It reminds me of rural Haiti. The photgrapher is Marion Post Wolcott. A biography can be found here.
The library of the University of Miami has some pages, ‘for teachers and students’, about of the FSA-OWI photographs in Florida. Marion Post Wolcott consciously portrayed class difference in America. While in and around Miami, she photographed blacks, migrant workers, their living conditons and Miami Beach and its fancy offerings.
The rights of these images are administered by Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection.
“Bound for Glory” at the Library of Congrees
Red, White, Blue and Kodachrome – New York Times
Library of Congress Press Release – “Bound for Glory”
The above articles cover the factual items about the show, but the NYTimes article does to…
rural Haiti? how about rural Flroida or anywhere south in the USA…I wonder what U would say if they were all latin?
rural Cuba?
if they were all latin, i would probably still say haiti. because that is the memory i have. i understand that most of small black rural town in the american south probably look like this. But my emotional response to those images brought me back to when i was about 8-9 years old spending my summer vacation with my farmer grandparents. the small commune/village is loosely organized about a small church, a small school and the river passing nearby irrigating all nearby farms.
so it would be difficult for me to say cuba or rural florida.