Master Photographers - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Master Photographers of the 1920s, 1930s & 1940s

Edward Weston

Dorothea Lange

Gordon ParksSlide2

Has been called “one of the most innovative and influential

American photographers”Weston photographed a wide variety of subjects, including still

lifes, landscapes, nudes, and portraitsFocused on the people and places of the American West

Edward Weston(1886 – 1958)Slide3

Born in Chicago and moved to California at age 21

Knew he wanted to be a photographer from an early ageAttended the Illinois School of Photography

Opened his own studio in 1911, taking portraits of children and friendsGained recognition for his work and won prizes in national competitions

Weston in 1915Slide4

His early work was part of a photography movement called “pictoralism

”Pictoralists manipulated

their images to make them look more artisticImages often lacked sharp focus, were printed in colours other than black & white, and had visible brushstrokes or other

surface texturesKarl and Ethel, 1923Slide5

Other examples of Weston’s early Pictoralist workSlide6

He moved to Mexico

from 1923 to 1927 and the different culture and scenery forced him to look at things in new waysHe moved away from

pictoralism and embraced realism“The camera should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself…I feel definite in the belief that the approach to photography is through

realism”Slide7

Janitzio, Patzcuaro,

1926

Charrito

, 1926Slide8

Weston is well known for many of the nude portraits

he took throughout the 1920s and 1930sHis photos often isolated specific body parts and reduced the human figure down to its basic forms

Nude, 1925Slide9

Nude, 1927

Nude

, 1936Slide10

Weston developed a similar interest in the organic

forms of fruits, vegetables, rocks, and seashells

Pepper No. 30, 1930

Shell

, 1927Slide11

In 1937, Weston was the

first photographer to receive a Guggenheim FellowshipIn 1947 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and he stopped photographing soon

thereafterHe spent the remaining ten years of his life overseeing the printing of more than 1,000 of his most famous imagesWeston died at age 

71 in Big Sur, CaliforniaSlide12

An influential American

documentary photographer and photojournalistBest

known for her Depression-era work for the US governmentLange's photographs humanized the consequences of the Great Depression

Dorothea Lange(1895 – 1965)Slide13

Born in Hoboken, New

JerseyEducated in photography at Columbia University in New York City

Moved to San Francisco in 1918 and opened a successful portrait studio the following yearWhen the Great Depression began in 1929, Lange turned her camera lens from the

studio to the street

White Angel Bread Line, San Francisco, 1933Slide14

Lange’s photos of unemployed and homeless people

led to her employment with the federal Farm Security Administration

From 1935 to 1939, Lange documented sharecroppers, displaced farm families, and migrant workersPoor mother and children, Oklahoma

, 1936Slide15

Mother & children, Tulelake, California

, 1939

Mississippi Delta Children

, 1936Slide16

Distributed free to newspapers across the country, Lange’s images

became icons of the eraHer best-known picture

is titled "Migrant Mother““I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food.”

Migrant Mother, 1936Slide17

In 1941, Lange was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for excellence in photography

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, she covered the internment of Japanese

AmericansHer images were so obviously critical that the Army impounded most of them, and they were not seen publicly for more than 50 yearsSlide18

In 1945, Lange was invited to

teach photography at the California School of Fine Arts

In 1952, she co-founded the photographic magazine ApertureLange died of esophageal cancer on October 11, 1965 in San Francisco, California at age 70Slide19

An American

photographer, musician, writer and film directorParks was the first African-American staff photographer for

Life magazine and later the first African-American to direct a major motion pictureHe is known for his striking fashion photography

Gordon Parks(1912 – 2006)Slide20

Parks was born in Fort Scott, Kansas and attended a segregated elementary school

At the age of 25, he was struck by photographs of migrant workers in a magazine and bought his

first cameraThe photography clerks who developed Parks' first roll of film, applauded his work and prompted him to seek work

as a fashion photographerSlide21

Parks moved to Chicago in 1940

, where he began a portrait business and specialized in photographs of society women

In 1944, he became a freelance fashion photographer for VogueHe developed a distinctive

style, often photographing his models in motion, or casual posesSlide22

His photographs seemed like he

caught his subjects off guard and mid-action, as if they were waiting for a bus, in the middle of shopping,

or expecting a lunch dateSlide23

Parks composed his images dramatically

and made them seem as if they were part of a narrativeSlide24
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In 1948, Parks began a staff job as a photographer and writer

with Life magazine For 20

years, he covered subjects including fashion, sports, Broadway, poverty, racial segregation, and portraits of famous celebritiesIn 1971, Parks directed

the major hit film ShaftHe died of cancer at the age of 93 while living in Manhattan

Muhammad Ali, Miami, Florida

, 1966