The Likes of Us: Photography and the Farm Security Administration - Hardcover

Cohen, Stu

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1567923402 ISBN 13: 9781567923407

Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher, 2008

Synopsis

An essential visual record of American life from the late 1920s to the early 1940s – photographs from the Library of Congress’ Farm Security Administration archive. This collection offers a rare opportunity not only to see historic images but also to understand the working of one of the government’s most original and creative pre-war initiatives.
Guided by master photo editor Roy Stryker, the FSA archive includes the work of dozens of photographers, from acknowledged giants such as Walker Evans, Ben Shahn, and Dorothea Lange to Marion Post Wolcott and Russell Lee, whose names and work may be less familiar. Stryker’s approach was a mix of structure and improvisation. He sent his artists across the country to shoot for a few weeks, mostly in small towns and rural areas. They worked from what Stryker called shooting scripts – laundry lists of possible subjects and situations – but were always free to explore their own perspectives on a locale, its inhabitants, and their activities.
This book collects work from nine of these trips – Evans in Louisana and Alabama, Shahn in West Virginia, Lange in California, and others – uniting them with Stryker’s shooting scripts, letters, and other relevant archival documents. What emerges, beyond the images themselves, is a complex and vital overview of the FSA at work and how the work evolved and matured under Stryker’s guidance. The book concludes with photographs of New Orleans, the only city photographed in depth by the FSA artists.
The Likes of Us includes 175 photographs, reproduced in duotone and printed from the original negatives at the Library of Congress.

About this title

Synopsis

Housed at the Library of Congress, the archives of the Farm Security Administration are home to a unique visual record of American life from the late 1920s through the onset of the Second World War.Under the watchful eye of master photo editor Roy Stryker, dozens of photographers - from acknowledged giants like Walker Evans, Ben Shahn, and Dorothea Lange to little known names such as Marion Post Wolcott and Russell Lee - were sent out across the country to document the people, places, and activities of the FSA as it attempted to help poverty stricken farmers during the Depression era.Featuring 175 duotone photographs - all reproduced from the original negatives - "The Likes of Us" not only offers the chance to see a selection of famous and little-known images, but also to go behind the scenes of one of America's most original and creative government-sponsored projects.

Edition details

• Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1567923402
• ISBN 13: 9781567923407
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 183
• Editor: Hales Peter Bacon