Documentary Photography

Art form or Social awarness?

Katie Chock

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Photography, an invention that has not been around for very long, yet is a renowned

form of art. Photography has inspired millions of artist to create works of art. Whether

photography is used for abstract, science, portraits, or for tourist, it become available for

everyone to participate with. Not everyone likes photography, some like Walter Benjamin

believe that photography was nothing special. Walter Benjamin was an early 20th century

German Jewish philosopher and an art critic. Benjamin believed that photography was a fake

form of art which he mentions in his statement. “Even the most perfect reproduction of a work

of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place

where it happens to be…For example, in photography, process reproduction can bring out

those aspects of the original that are unattainable to the naked eye yet accessible to the lens,

which is adjustable and chooses its angle at will. And photographic reproduction, with the aid of

certain processes, such as enlargement or slow motion, can capture images which escape

natural vision”1. Benjamin believed photography could not produce genuine art, or genuine

feeling. Photography lacked the presence of time and space. Though Benjamin bashed

photography, it did not stop photography from becoming the amazing art form that it is today.

Also, Benjamin believed that photography had no general feeling. However, documentary

photography could show the raw feeling of the world.

Documentary photography, in a way, started when photography was invented.

Photography is always documenting something even a simple object. Documentary

photography is a worldwide phenomenon, but I will only focus on documentary photography in

1 Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age Mechanical Reproduction”. In Art in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas 1992, ed. by Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, (Massachusetts, Blackwell Publishing, 1992) pg. 521.

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America during 1900-1950. I mostly choose this time period because it was a really up and

coming type of photography during this time. The documentary photography that I mean for

this essay is photographers taking their camera and documenting the life around them.

Documentary photographers would take pictures of many subjects: buildings, big cities, small

towns, but the most important subject was people. Who people were, how their life was like,

how people differed from other people, and so much more. Documentary photography was a

way for the audience to understand what live was like for certain people.

Figure 1 is a famous documentary photograph titled the At the Time of the Louisville

Flood taken by Margaret Bourke White in February 1937. This image depicts African American

flood victims lined up to get food

& clothing for Red Cross relief

station in front of billboard

ironically extolling.2 White’s photo

documents the struggles of daily

life for these flood victims,

waiting in line for rations like

food, clothing, and other personal

needs. Documentary photography

is meant to capture the real lives of people. Whether American people were living in a bad or

good situation. Certain artist wanted to take documentary photography and turn it into a form

of art. Some artist like White used documentary photograph to create a social statement along

2 Jae Emerling, Photography History and Theory, (London: Routledge, 2012), pg. 90.

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with being a form of art. Not only do artist view their works for different things so do scholarly

authors.

Different scholarly authors have different perspective of documentary photography.

David E. Kyvig and Myron A. Marty in their book Nearby History Exploring the Past Around You,

2010, simplify the different perspectives of documentary photography in to two categories.

“Photographs may be artistic bearers of messages, like the work of Walker Evans, Dorothea

Lange, and others depicting the hardship brought by the Great Depression of the 1939”.3 Some

authors believe that documentary is just an art form; just artist taking pictures of the America

to put up in a gallery. Some scholarly authors believe that documentary photography was used

for social purposes, Kyvig and Myron only mention the Great Depression but there was much

more than the Great Depression. Taking pictures of people and their cultural lifestyle, or those

in need to bring awareness to the public. This type of documentary photography is called social

documentary photography. And a few scholarly authors view documentary photography as a

theory of practice in the art world. What documentary photography means and what its

purpose is to America and art itself, not just as a social means. Documentary photography has

split into several categories because authors view this topic differently from another. Why is it

that documentary photography has to be split up into different categories, of being an art form

or exposing social issues? All these authors I found have a different view on documentary

photography, they all mention the effect of what documentary photography had on America.

Different scholarly authors have their own opinion and argument about what documentary

photography is, that it’s an art form or making social commentary.

3 David E. Kyvig and Myron A Marty, Nearby History Exploring the Past Around You, (Lanham: AltaMira Press, 2010), pg. 134.

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Art Form

Art can be anything, whether a person puts a shoe on a pedestal or Vincent van Gough’s

Starry Night. Documentary photography is also art. The subject of the photo may not be a

happy one like Figure 1, it is still a work of art. While a lot of scholarly authors argue that

documentary photography was more about making a social statement for America rather than

an art form. There are few authors that argue that documentary photography is an art form.

A book called Henri Cartier-Bresson Walker Evans Photographing America 1929-1947,

2009, written by Thames & Hudson Company, mentions about the photos made by Henri

Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans. Cartier-Bresson is a French documentary photographer who

traveled to America in 1946.4 Evans is an American documentary photographer. Photographing

America contains two essays: an introduction by Agnes Sire, 2009, and “A Dialogue?”, 2009, by

Jean-François Chevrier. Photographing America does not provide the reader with much

information as to who Cartier-Bresson and Evans are, but it does show a collection of their

documentary photographs. Sire and Chevrier focus on only these artist but they do write how

Cartier-Bresson and Evans documentary photographs are a form of art.

The introduction by Sire mentions Cartier-Bresson and Evans’ accomplishments they

achieved. Cartier-Bresson and Evans’s gallery exhibition at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA),

and their art books with their collections of photos. Sire’s introduction also added selections

from other essays art history scholars praising Cartier-Bresson and Evans. Sire even quotes the

other author Jean-Francois Chevrier who wrote the second essay. Sire quotes Chevrier’s article

4 Agnes Sire, introduction to Henri Cartier-Bresson Walker Evans Photographing America 1929-1947, ed. Thames & Hudson (London, Thames and Hudson, 2009), pg. 9.

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“Walker Evans, American Photographs et la question du sujet”. “…Evans created a new

relationship between the Surrealists’ “poetic document” and the documentary investigation…

He was breaking with the rhetorical effects of photojournalism”5. Sire affirms that Evans’s

photos is a mix between art and investigation. Sire doesn’t out right state that Evans’s and

Cartier-Bresson’s photos are documentary photographs, but focuses on how there photos are

forms of art. Sire’s introduction is not best for describing what documentary photography is but

why Cartier-Bresson and Evans’s photography is important art work.

Chevrier’s “A Dialogue?” is the second essay in Henri Cartier-Bresson Walker Evans

Photographing America 1929-1947. Chevrier is his essay also mentions Cartier-Bresson and

Evans’s accomplishments with their gallery showings at the MoMA and art books. Along with

Sire, Chevrier is looking more as Cartier-Bresson and Evans’s documentary photos as art work.

Nothing to be used for social documentary photos. “Evans belonged in part to this tradition, but

he spoke of ‘photographs’ rather than ‘documents’ and presented them alone, one after the

other without accompanying text”6. Chevrier also doesn’t place Evans’s in the genre of being a

documentary photographer, but an artist with a style of documentary photography. Chevrier’s

article focuses more as to what Cartier-Bresson and Evans’s photo represented. Sire focused on

Cartier-Bresson and Evans’s accomplishments and style of art. With both articles Chevrier and

Sire stress that Cartier-Bresson and Evans’s wanted their photos to presented as art, not as a

social remark.

5 Ibid, pg. 13.6 Jean-François Chevrier, “A Dialogue?” in Henri Cartier-Bresson Walker Evans Photographing America 1929-1947 2009, ed. Thames & Hudson (London, Thames and Hudson, 2009), pg. 31.

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Allan Sekula an American photographer wrote a journal article titled Dismantling

Modernism, Reinventing Documentary (Notes on the Political representation), 1978, and

Sekula’s argument is that documentary photography is an art form first that can portray social

issues. Sekula first starts out his article stating what he believes what art is, what an artist is

capable of and his argument. Sekula’s argument as he states is “What I am arguing is that we

understand the extent to which art redeems a repressive social order by offering a wholly

imaginary transcendence, a false harmony, to docile isolated spectators”7. Sekula makes his

argument clear in the first page of his article. It’s easy for readers skimming through to see

what Sekula’s paper is going to be about. His argument may not mention about documentary

photography or photography in the first couple of pages but it is the main focus in his article.

Sekula’s argument could be more towards documentary photography is for a social

statement, but his argument is the art of documentary photography that can make people

understand social issues. Sekula “Documentary is thought to be art when it transcends its

reference to the world, when the work can be regarded, first and foremost, as an act of self-

expression on the part of an artist”.8 Sekula believes that even through a documentary photo is

a reference to the world but it first an expression of art. Documentary photography artist are

expressing themselves in their photos and is also a connection to the world. Sekula’s article is

expressing his views that documentary photography is an art form. Being a photographer

himself, Sekula is immersed in the art world. Sekula gives and artist perspective with his article,

7 Allan Sekula, “Dismantling Modernism, Reinventing Documentary (Notes on the Politics of Representation),” The Massachusetts Review 19, no. 4 (1978): 859, accessed November 21, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25088914. 8 Ibid, pg. 864.

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adding what he knows as an artist himself to this topic. Though Sekula doesn’t reference much

of a time frame for my subject he discusses the main idea of documentary photography itself.

Social Documentary Photography

While some authors argue that documentary photography is an art form, the subject

can be sensitive but it’s a work of art. The scholarly authors I found for this paper argue that

documentary photography was meant to expose social issues. Also, argue that these

documentary photos document the social issues of life in America. Social issues like: Immigrants

coming to America trying to find a better life for their families, exposing a lack child labor laws,

showing the hard life of a failing farmer in the 1930s, and documenting the American values

and culture. Documentary photography is not an art form but a means for documenting and

brining awareness to the American people social issues in America.

American Photography and the American Dream, 1991, by James Guimond is one of the

better books that argues for social documentary photography. American Photography and the

American Dream has a different focused topic in each chapter. For the first chapter, Guimond’s

argument is that the focus will be on documentary photos that will be more focused on the

American dream from 1899 to the mid-1980s.9 Documentary photos that documented and

displayed ideas of ideal life and dreams in America. Guimond has his own view of what

documentary photography means. “Although it is not easy to define the term “documentary,”

enough examples of images described as documentary have come into existence since the

1930s-when the term began to be used by photographers like Walker Evans and Edward

9 James Guimond, American Photography and the American Dream, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1991), pg. 4.

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Steichen…”10. Guimond doesn’t have a true definition of what documentary photography

means but the actual documentary photos gives the audience a general idea of what

documentary photography is. Documentary photographers a different insight to for people who

have been ignored, devalued or taken for granted.11 Guimond’s only going to focus on how

documentary photography was meant to help social issues. Guimond later in the first chapter

explains how during throughout 1899 through the mid-1980s America would change its ideas of

what the American dream was.

Chapter 2 in American Photography and the American Dream mostly focuses on how

documentary photography was used to documenting social issues about African Americans:

living and work conditions. Some scholarly books skip over this aspect of how there was social

documentary used for the unrecognized welfare of African Americans. Guimond’s explains why

documenting African Americans lifestyle in the early twentieth century is significant. There was

extreme racism and to see that white artist actually cared to show the struggle of African

Americans was something that was not done very much. Chapter 3 explains about Lewis Hine

and the Industrial era of America. Hine’s photos focused on taking photos of immigrants, child

labor problem, kids working in factories under harsh conditions, and the working man.

Guimond explains in this chapter what Hines was doing to chase the American dream. Hine was

trying to challenge the stereotypes and anti-immigrant prejudices.12 Other scholarly authors do

include that Hine was taking photos of immigrants in their book Guimond does in a bit of a

different way. Going back to Guimond’s argument of using photos to describe the American

10 Ibid, pg. 6. 11 Ibid, pg. 912 Ibid, pg. 62.

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dream. Guimond’s use of Hine is not only describe Americans’ dream that have been born and

raised their but the new American immigrants. The American immigrants are trying to chase

the American dreams along with the Americans already raised there. Guimond does mention

about the child labor law problems but was not as passionate about the American immigrants

trying to make a living.

Chapter 4 of American Photography and the American Dream focuses on the depression

era. Guimond explains the New Deal and how documentary photographers were hired to go

out and take pictures of America in depression times. Out of all the New Deal aspects Guimond

focused on the FSA (Farmers Service Agency) where documentary photographers go out to

farms. Guimond mentions some more famous documentary photographers, with small

paragraph explaining who they are: Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Roy Stryker, and Arthur

Rothstien. Chapter 5 and 6 go on to Guimond explaining that documentary photography began

to turn more towards American culture. In the late 1940s documentary photographers are

photographing real people in everyday life to promote the American way of life: ideas and

values.13 It was no longer about changing America for the better but shaping to life the

American way. Guimond transitions the reader from documentary photography being about

exposing the truth of the hard life to documentary photographers taken pictures of what the

American way and values were.

The rest of Guimond’s book was something I could not use because it was a later time

period that I wasn’t focusing on. Guimond’s book was very insightful: great quotes, chapters

focused on a specific time of documentary photography, and what these photos would detail of

13 Ibid, pg. 170.

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the American dream and living. As much as I tried to explain about this book it’s something that

every research for this topic should read.

Symbols of Ideal Life: Social Documentary Photography in America 1890-1950, 1989, by

Maren Stange a professor at the Cooper Union, argues in her book that documentary

photography is used for social purposes. Whenever an author argues that documentary

photography was used to be social they call it social documentary photography. Reading from

the title of Stange’s books it’s obvious that her argument will be more towards social

documentary photography. Though the beginning year’s maybe ten years earlier than what my

subject is, it is the perfect time frame of what a reader would be looking for if they were writing

this subject. Stange’s introduction starts by explaining what her argument of documentary

photography is. “Photography, mainly documentary and mass reproducible, became

particularly useful to reformers intent on communicating a worldview that stressed their

expertise and organization”.14 Stange’s introduction then continues about what documentary

photography artist she wrote about and what organization the documentary photography artist

were a part of. For readers that means they know what to expect in each chapter and what

information they will be finding which is handy for a quick skim.

Stange’s first chapter is about Jacob Riis. A Denmark born American immigrant. Riis first

started documentary photography in the late nineteenth century, 1887 through the early

twentieth. Stange wrote what some documentary photography artist expectations were, when

they took their photos Riis began the idea of taking documentary photos showing the

underbelly of city life in his photos. Stange states “… Riis was proposing in essence that 14 Maren Stange, Symbolism of Ideal life Social Documentary Photography in America 1890-1950, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pg. xiii

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conscientious personal philanthropy might function both as good public relations and as self-

improvement, reaffirming the benignity of middleclass values, and wealth itself, even as the

respectable class girded themselves anew against the treat breeding in the slums”.15 For a

researcher it’s important to know the objective of each documentary photographer. Stange

backs up her argument with quotes from newspapers, gallery exhibits, other art historians, and

art critics.

Stange’s second chapter goes onto describing Lewis Hine. Like Guimond, Stange

mentions how Hine took photos of the immigrants coming to America and the child labour

laws. Stange’s information matches that of Guimond but that doesn’t mean it’s not a god book

to read because their arguments and information back each other up. Stange’s third chapter is

about the FSA photography project. Stange again matches Guimond with what the FSA was and

how it was showing documentary photos. What Stange does differently is how Hine was taking

photos of life on a farm before the FSA and New Deal. Also the combined work of Ruxford

Tugwell and Roy Striker with the FSA.

Lastly Stange’s conclusion focuses on social life in America in the 1940s and 1950s. This

is a small chapter about how documentary photography is focused on American culture and

values just like Guimond. With Stange she again focuses on Stryker and another documentary

photographer Edward Steichen. Stange’s argument is about how documentary photography

was used for social issues, so the main focuses on the very late nineteenth century with Riis to

the beginning of the 1940s.

15 Ibid, pg. 5.

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A review article written by Robert L. Craig titled “Photography in American History,

Culture and Society: A Review Essay” summarizes Maren Stange’s book Symbols of Ideal Life:

Social Documentary Photography in America 1890-1950 and Alan Trachtenberg’s book Reading

American Photographs: Images as History Mathew Brady to Walker Evans. Craig reviews both

Stange’s and Trachtenberg’s books separately and compares them together. For this part I will

only focus on what Craig reviews about Stange, Trachtenberg will be later. Craig first begins his

review how Stange has specific time period for her book her own observations about

documentary photography which Craig explains more when he reviews her book. Craig mainly

reviews one chapter of Stange’s book, the chapter with Riis. Craig states that Stange’s

observations with Riis, that he was doing pioneering work in combination with photography.16

Craig reflects on Stange’s emphasis on Riis’ works and what his pictures stood for. Craig later

goes on to compliment how Stange wrote it is important to also consider the organization

documentary photographers were working for.17 Which is also good to remember with Stange’s

work but Craig only mentions the FSA.

Craig’s review is not exactly the most useful, it lacks an argument. The first few pages

are just fluff explaining how Stange and Trachtenberg have an understanding and their own

unique analysis of documentary photography and a photographer’s point of view. How

Trachtenberg and Stange understand the point of view and context behind documentary

photography.18 Which is fine because that is how Craig is reviewing Stange and Trachtenberg as

authors that able to comprehend documentary photography. However it lacks what Stange’s

16 Robert L. Craig, “Photography in American History, Culture and Society: A Review Essay,”: 112, accessed October 1, 2015, jci.sagepub.com.17 Ibid., pg. 112.18 Ibid., pg. 107.

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book confronted the subject of documentary photography. The way Craig wrote the first couple

pages are kind of a review but mostly a complement to Stange and Trachtenberg’s books. This

review is less of a review of Stange’s book but more of a summary explaining mostly only one

chapter of Stange’s book. How Stange had a micro-level of understanding of documentary

photography and Riis.19 Instead an analytical discussion of what Stange adds to the discussion of

documentary photography. Plus it does not fully cover Stange’s book just one small section

compared to the rest of the book.

I found a better review for Stange’s book in an article titled “Deconstructing American

Photographs”, 1990, by David Peeler. Peeler just like Craig combines Stange and Trachtenberg

analyzing books separately then compares them. Peeler’s review is short but he pulls in what he

believes are key points of Stange’s books. Peeler tries to reviews all of Symbols of Ideal Life:

Social Documentary Photography in America 1890-1950, instead of one chapter. Peeler’s

argument for Stange’s work is that, Stange is concerned with political functions of documentary

photography.20 Peeler’s review for Stange is that her work relating to documentary

photography is more political and social. Which is true Stange does focus Symbols of Ideal Life:

Social Documentary Photography in America 1890-1950 more on documentary photography

dealing with social issues. Peeler’s argument for his review is what Stange’s book offers to the

reader and what her argument about documentary photography is. Which is much better than

Craig who only summarized one chapter of Stange’s book.

19 Ibid., pg. 107.20 David Peeler, “Deconstructing American Photographs,” American Quarterly 42, no.3 (1990): 506, accessed October 10, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2712946.

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Multiple Views: Logan Grant Essays on Photography 1983-89, 1991 edited by Daniel P.

Younger is a book with different essays by different people, and an essay Maren Stange happens

to be in this book. Stange’s essay is titled “Documentary Photography in American Social

Reform Movements: The FSA Project and its Predecessors”, 1991. As great as it is to find

another essay from Stange it’s exactly like her book Symbols of Ideal Life: Social Documentary

Photography in America 1890-1950 except more condensed. It’s re-reading a more condensed

version of chapter 2 which was about Lewis Hine and chapter three about the FSA. The only

difference in Stange’s essay and book is her argument. In Symbols of Ideal Life: Social

Documentary Photography in America 1890-1950 her argument was a broader time frame with

more documentary photography artist. Her essays argument is about the use of social

documentary photography for the FSA. During the New Deal the government sponsored

projects like the FSA that would make photographers available for illustrations for articles and

magazines to show the land and the farmers.21

In Liz Wells Photography: a Critical Introduction, 1997, is a collection of essays with each

chapter being a different author and their writings on photography. The second chapter

features Derrick Price and his essay titled “Surveyors and Surveyed: Photography out and

About”, 1997. Derrick Price doesn’t only focus on American documentary Photography but

British documentary photography. The first part of the essay focuses only about Victorian style

documentary photography in Great Britain, then American photography during the same time

period. Price does provides a good global perspective of what is going on in Britain as well as

21 Maren Stange, “Documentary Photography in American Social Reform Movements: The FSA Project and its Predecessors,” in Multiple Views: Logan Grant Essays on Photography 1983-89 1991, ed. by Daniel P. Younger (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1991), pg. 196.

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America at the same time. “Documentary was a tool of education which would militate against

foolish distractions offered by Hollywood and anchor people in a rational world of work and

social obligation”.22 Price in his argument believes documentary photography was used for

social purposes, to show the real life of American people. Price also does have the same quote

Sekula’s article: Dismantling Modernism, Reinventing Documentary (Notes on the Political

representation), that I used about documentary photography being a form of art. Other

scholars are quoting the same authors that I have used. Price in his essay does have small

sections about certain time frames with certain artists. For example Dorothea Lange a famous

documentary photographer during the depression time. Taking photos of failing farmers. Also

other documentary photography artist in Britain. However only a small section of this article

can be used because the time period I’m focusing on is 1900-1950 in America.

The Contest of Meaning: Critical Histories of Photography, 1989, edited by Richard

Bolton is another book of different chapters of collective essays written by different art

historian and critics. There is only one essay about documentary photography titled “In,

around, and afterthoughts (on documentary photography)”, 1989, by Martha Rosler. Rosler is

an American artist, another artist perspective that contracts that of Allan Sekula. Rosler is

another scholarly author whose argument is that documentary photography was used for social

commentary. “Documentary photography has come to represent the social conscience of

liberal sensibility presented in visual imagery (though its roots are somewhat more diverse and

include the “artless” control motives of police record keeping surveillance)”.23 Rosler also add to

22 Derrick Price, “Surveyors and Surveyed photography out and about” in Photography a Critical Introduction 1997, ed. Liz Wells (London: Routledge, 1997), pg. 77. 23 Martha Rosler, “In, around, and afterthought (on documentary photography)” 1989, in The Contest of Meaning: Critical Histories of Photography 1989, ed. By Richard Bolton (Massachusetts: the MIT Press, 1989), pg. 303.

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her argument in this statement that not all documentary photography came from artistic

photos. Photography was also used for surveillance and police work. Rosler doesn’t focus much

at all about the origins of documentary photography but adds that little bit of information to

have the reader remember that photography had more than one use.

As the scholarly authors who argued that documentary photograph was an art form

Rosler argues that not all documentary photography started in as a form of art. Documentary

photographers first were in newspapers, poster, magazines, and books before it was hung in a

gallery.24 Therefore documentary photography was meant for social purposes first before it

became art hanging in the walls of a museum or gallery. Documentary photography first have

to serve its purpose to the social justice it was used for and after it social justice the photo can

then be a form of art.

The beginning of Rosler’s article was the argument was that documentary photography

was a form of social issues, then shifts the article towards Native Americans, foreign countries

used documentary photos. Then Rosler shifts the essay again to who are the people that were

taken some documentary photos. As great as it is to write about this side of documentary

photography that some authors don’t touch on, Rosler didn’t write it in a smooth transition

from one subject to the next. Rosler just jumped into one subject to the next leaving the reader

to be confused and reread the article to make sure they didn’t miss anything. This essay is not a

total bust but later in the essay it is not clear as to what the argument is, so I could only use the

first part.

24 Ibid pg. 306

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Basic Critical Theory for Photographers, 2005, written by Ashley la Grange is a book of

summaries of other author’s articles and essays. Each chapter is Grange summarizing a different

essay, in this case for in chapter it is Martha Rosler’s article “In, around, and afterthoughts (on

documentary photography)”. Grange only summarizes the first part of Rosler’s essay, which is a

good thing only for me because, it was the only part I could use for this paper. What Grange

also got from Rosler essay is: documentary photography represents a liberal social conscience.25

Grange then goes on to cite Rosler’s argument on Riis, Hine and the depression era

documentary photographs. Again, Grange summarizing Rosler’s essay to even briefer essay. In

the last part of Grange’s chapter with “In, around, and afterthoughts (on documentary

photography)”, he list all the discussion point of Rosler’s essay. Grange wrote a convenient list

that a reader can use to find recapped key points of Rosler’s essay.

Basic Critical Theory for Photographers is just summary of essays of other authors work.

That’s fine if readers are having a hard time understanding the material of the original authors.

However the title: Basic Critical Theory for Photographers is misleading. I originally thought this

was another book that had another theory aspect to documentary photography, but it is not.

Which to me is a problem. At first I read this book before reading Rosler’s essay, I was confused

as to what was going on. I had to find Rosler’s article before I could finish reading this chapter.

Basic Critical Theory for Photographers does mention theory but from other scholarly authors

writing. At best Basic Critical Theory for Photographers can help readers find an essay about the

theory of photography. However, Grange doesn’t have an argument for documentary

photography but only a summarized argument from Rosler.

25 Ashley la Grange, Basic Critical Theory for Photographers, (Burlington: Focal Press, 2005), pg. 113.

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Another problem is there is not a lot of information about who Ashley la Grange is. Not

even in his book does Grange say who he is. I only know he is a photographer because one of

his photos is in the book. That does not mean that Grange does not have a say on scholarly

information regarding photography and documentary photography. It means that this book

really has to be examined with book reviews and to find out if this is good scholarly work.

Documenting America 1935-1943, 1988, edited by Carl Fleischhauer and Beverly W.

Brannan, this book focuses more on individual artist than social issue. Documenting America

1935-1943 doesn’t have an overall argument but is going to focus on a group of photographers

during the time period of 1935-1943 working for the federal government that documented

America.26 Fleischhauer and Brannan are not arguing for documentary photography being an

art form or for social use, it’s more about the artist and their contributions. Documenting

America 1935-1943 has a different chapter about an artist: thirteen different artist all with their

own essay about their work then a series of their documentary photos. Documenting America

1935-1943 main arguments are about each individual artist’s contribution to documentary

photography. Some artists like Dorothea Lange and Arthur Rothstein are mentioned for the

documentary photographs used for social uses like the FSA. Other artist like Marion Post

Wolcott and Esther Bubley used their documentary photographs to document the daily lives of

Americans: Leisure time, home life, city life, and other American life culture. Documenting

America 1935-1943 can be used for both arguments of documentary photography being used

as an art form or social issues, it depends on the artist you read. Documenting America 1935-

26 Documenting America, ed. Carl Fleischhauer and Beverly W. Brannan. (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1988), pg. 1.

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1943 is more for a researching a specific artist or to compare artist for what contribution they

added to documentary photography.

In Peter Szto’s article titled “Documenting Photography in American Social Welfare

History: 1897-1943”, 2008, is an article focused on how documentary photography was used for

social issues. Szto does add a different perspective to documentary photography: the social

organizations, magazines, and other functions that used the documentary photographs and

how they used the photos. In the first part of Stzo’s argument in his article is documentary

photography is and was used for social issues, instead of focusing on the documentary

photographers who took the photos. “No one photograph or individual photographer singularly

altered American social welfare history; instead, the collective and accumulated affect of

documentary photography shaped social provision”.27 One part of Szto argument is that no one

photo or artist made documentary photography, it took collaboration of all documentary

photographers. The scholarly authors I choose wrote about more than one documentary

photographer but, they don’t really mention how all together they created documentary

photography. The scholarly authors earlier in the essay wrote how each artist was important in

their own time. Szto is emphasizing how all documentary photographers are all important.

Szto doesn’t only focuses that documentary photography was created by all the artist

and that documentary photography was used for social purposes. Szto focuses more on what

organizations and other functions used documentary photos. Szto mentions journals made in

the early twentieth century that would use and made to display for documentary photographs.

27 Peter Szto, “Documentary Photography in American Social Welfare History: 1897-1943” The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare 30, no. 2 (2008): 92, accessed November 12, 2015, http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol35/iss2/6.

20

Paul Kellogg in 1921 created a journal called Survey Graphic that was trying to reach an

audience beyond social welfare workers, using documentary photographs to show social issue

in America.28 Szto finds actual journals in the early twentieth century that would publish or use

the actual documentary photos that were made. This is great for the reader because they can

find primary source journals during the time period and use them for their argument. Szto does

mention a few photographers like Hine and Lange. However the main argument for this article

is people, organizations, journals, and other functions that used documentary photos in their

works.

Theory of Documentary Photography

The theory of documentary photography is not complex like other theories of art.

Theory focuses more on the definition of what documentary photography is. Also the difference

between of what makes a photo art work compared to a documentary photograph.

Photography History and Theory by Jae Emerling is a book about photography that

combine the history and theory of photography. Photography History and Theory has one

chapter that focuses on documentary photography, though it’s only one chapter the chapter is

fantastic. After reading the chapter about documentary photography in Photography History

and Theory it makes me want to have Emerling write an entire book about documentary

photography. Emerling breaks up documentary into different categories: the different

definitions of documentary photography, the different relations of documentary photography

28 Ibid., pg. 98.

21

how it is art and a social use, the definition of social documentary and its purpose, and who is

and isn’t a documentary photographer.

The first part of Emerling’s chapter with documentary photography helps the audience

understand what documentary photography is. Emerling starts out with what his definition of

documentary photography is. “It is difficult to arrive at a satisfying definition of “documentary”

photography because it is not simply about a visual style, however prosaic and supposedly

“objective”, nor is it a site of reception…”.29 Emerling is pointing out that there is no overall

concise agreement as to what documentary photography means. There are too many people

constructively arguing what documentary photography means. For some scholarly authors

documentary photography means documenting social issues in America especially during the

1920s-1930s, and some

scholarly authors counter

point in their argument that

documentary photography is a

work of visual art and

simultaneously a document.30

Emerling is writing on behave on

both sides of documentary

photography is art or social

commentary, giving the reader both perspectives. Emerling does not argue for what

documentary photography is but what it represents for different people.

29 Jae Emerling, Photography History and Theory, (London: Routledge, 2012), pg. 82.30 Ibid, pg. 83-84

22

Emerling not only defines what documentary photography is but what social

documentary photography. Earlier in the essay some authors just call documentary

photography, social documentary photography. Emerling define social documentary

photography was an extension of Europe imperialism that was a mix of Victorian sentiment and

genuine social injustice.31 At first that statement doesn’t make much sense but Emerling later

describes some examples as to what some social documentary photographers are. Emerling

uses the documentary photography works of Jacob Riis and Robert Frank. Riis and Frank

transformed a form of photography to show the displacement and shame of the new

immigrants coming to America (Figure 2 on

pg. 22). Figure 2 is a Jacob Riis photo of a

couple of immigrants living in a tiny

boarding room.

Emerling then moves onto who has

been defined as a documentary

photographer, and who is not. Emerling

points out that a researcher needs to look at

an artist back ground and earlier works to

determine if they can be a documentary

photographer. Emerling mentions a

Surrealist artist named Henri Brassai. Brassai has taken photos that look like documentary

photos which Emerling uses as an example with Figure 3. Brassai’s photo does look like it would

31 Ibid, pg. 85.

23

fit in the category of being a documentary photograph. Brassai is not documentary

photographer because of his involvement with the Surrealist movement, his photos are

deemed to be aesthetic and creates a striking visual imagery than being a document.32 A writer

must do the proper research. Emerling explains that even though an artist may have a style that

is like documentary photography, they are not a documentary photographer. Some artist may

not be a documentary photographer Emerling also wrote about different scholarly authors can

really define what a documentary photo is and what documentary photography is.

Emerling quotes part of an essay from John Tagg, a twentieth and twenty-first century

art historian and critic. Emerling is adding Tagg’s perspective of what he believes is and is not a

documentary photo. Going back to figure 1, At the Time of the Louisville Flood, Tagg uses

White’s photo as an example to determine what a documentary photo is. Tagg decided that

White’s photo is not documentary photography. Tagg believes that documentary photographs

are photos in the 1930s used for the New Deal, the FSA (Farmers Service Agency), and must

have a point of view: a point of identification or psychic relation with the subject.33 In the social

documentary section of my paper some scholarly authors like, Fleischhauer and Brannan view

documentary photography to have only happened in the 1920s-1930s, like Tagg. Which

counterpoints some of the scholarly authors who

argue that social documentary photography

started much earlier than the 1920s. Emerling

writes that some art historians have different views

than others and it is important to read different

32 Ibid, pg. 90. 33 Ibid, pg. 91.

24

arguments of scholarly authors, to compare and contrast. Tagg may argue that what makes a

documentary photographer was an artist who took photos in the 1930s for the New Deal. Yet,

what about the artists like Evans that did take pictures for the New Deal but documentary

photographs of regular American life?

Walker Evans is one of the most diverse documentary photographers. Emerling

mentions that not every documentary

photographer stayed a documentary

photographer. Evans took many photos of

different subjects. Figure 4 (on pg. 24) is

one of Evan’s photos used for the FSA, a

farmer struggling to make ends meet,

Figure 5 is one of Evans commercial

photos. Emerling recognizes that Evans

took photos that were more for

commercial use and for the New Deal.

“His images of commercial signs posters,

and vernacular architecture simply do not

lend themselves to the types of viewers or

readings that the FSA desired for their documentary work”.34 Emerling states that his artistic

photos were not something the FSA was looking for, so Evans had to take photos for himself

and for social issue groups like the FSA. Figure 4 and 5 are taken around the same general time

34 Ibid., pg. 92.

25

which means Evans was perusing an art form and a documentary photography style. Emerling’s

point is that some artist can not be defined as a social documentary photographer or an artist

for documentary photography but both.

Reforming Photography Theory and Practice by Rebekah Modrak and Bill Anthes, is

another book that focuses on the theory of photography. Modrak and Anthe’s book does not

specifically focuses on documentary photography. Reforming Photography Theory and Practice

mentions almost every aspect of photography from when photography was invented in the

early nineteenth century to Photoshop tips for artist. Modrak and Anthes have a small sections

of documentary photography throughout their book. Reforming Photography Theory and

Practice is the type of book for a readers beginning research: to get brief facts about

documentary photography, the artist involved with documentary photography, and what

groups these artist worked for.

Modrak and Anthes have their definition of what documentary photography is. “In the

mid-to-late twentieth century, this term could be defined as the act of photographing the world

in an objective, truthful manner… Documentary can still be understood as an attempt to reveal

or communicate something about the real world”.35 Like Emerling, Modrak and Anthes have no

definitive meaning of documentary photography. Modrak and Anthes argue that documentary

photography is there to expose the truth.

Reforming Photography Theory and Practice does make one difference that all of the

photography books and articles did not mention, the person who invented the title and genre

35 Rebekah Modrak and Bill Anthes, Reframing Photography Theory and Practice, (London: Routledge, 2011), pg. 479.

26

of documentary photography. Modrak and Anthes quote Elizabeth McCausland’s article

“Documentary Photography”, written in 1939. McCausland coined the term documentary

photography: to distinguish factual photography from the new genres of art and commercial

art.36 Modrak and Anthes is the first book to give credit to the person who possibly was the first

to write about documentary photography. McCausland wrote this article in 1939 when

documentary photography was becoming very successful: artist were recognized for their

photos, their documentary photos were in high demand for newspapers, journals, magazines,

and organization, and documentary photography had a purpose to show social issues. For

Modrak and Anthes to credit McCausland’s essay is also another lead for the readers to look

into reading this essay.

The rest of Modrak and Anthe’s sections on documentary photography is some-what

nothing new that has not already been said before. Modrak and Anthe’s start off with Jacob Riis

and his accomplishments, then to Lewis Hine and his accomplishments. Modrak and Anthe’s

then focus another section of documentary photography on the great depression era: New Deal

and FSA (Farmers Service Agency) photos. Artists who went out to the farms and wastelands to

take pictures of the farmers who were struggling. What is a new way of defining on Walker

Evans and his photos because, Evans’ had documentary photos used for the FSA and some

more for art purposes. Evans’ photographs strength was his literalism, naturalism, and realism

in both his documentary photos for the FSA and other social groups and his artistic photos.37

Modrak and Anthes also single out Evans because he was a documentary photographer who

took photos to display social issues and art work. Emerling points out why Evans is different

36 Ibid., pg. 352.37 Ibid., pg. 357

27

because of his photos were used for social issue and art but, Modrak and Anthe’s define the

artistic styles of what made Evans stand out.

Not so Dependable

Some books offer valuable scholarly information, however some authors believe they do

not need scholarly information to back up their argument. Alan Trachtenberg is an English and

American studies professor at Yale University. In Alan Trachtenberg’s book, Reading American

Photographs: Images as History Mathew Brady to Walker Evans, has a severe lack of scholarly

information that backs up his argument. Trachtenberg’s book does not fully touch on

documentary photography that’s ok, but that does not make up for a lack of scholarly sources.

In chapter 4 of Reading American Photographs: Images as History Mathew Brady to

Walker Evans is the main chapter that focuses on documentary photography. Trachtenberg

starts off mentioning Lewis Hine. Reminder for the reader Hine’s photos focused on taking

photos of immigrants, child labor problem, kids working in factories under harsh conditions,

and the working man. “Why even today is he still described as a “documentary” photographer,

confined to that limiting category, as if his work consisted only of making illustrations for the

future textbook, rather than the making of a new order of social art in photography?”.38 Let’s

break that quote up into several parts, the first part is about how Hine is defined as a

documentary photographer. As Emerling says “It is difficult to arrive at a satisfying definition of

“documentary” photography because it is not simply about a visual style, however prosaic and

38 Alan Trachtenberg, Reading American Photographs Images as History Mathew Brady to Walker Evans, (New York: The Noonday Press, 1989). pg. 165.

28

supposedly “objective”, nor is it a site of reception…”.39 Why does Trachtenberg put the word

documentary in quotation marks? Emerling put the word documentary in quotation marks

because he is attempting to define the word, but at the same time documentary photography

has no true definition. As stated earlier some scholarly authors define documentary

photography as a mean to display social issues and, some scholarly authors define documentary

photography as art. If Trachtenberg put the word documentary in quotation marks, what is his

definition of documentary? What sources does he use to describe documentary?

The second part of Trachtenberg’s quote is that documentary photography is a limiting

category. Trachtenberg never explains in his book about how or why documentary photography

is a limiting category. Is being called documentary photographer even limiting to an artist?

Trachtenberg makes is sound like being a documentary photographer is an insult. Is it an insult

to be called a documentary photographer? I’ve tried to find other scholarly authors who believe

that documentary photography is a limited subject but, no scholarly author claims that

documentary photography is a limited category. Trachtenberg does not back up his argument

as to why documentary photography is a limited category.

The third part of Trachtenberg’s quote is about how Hines’s work is only going to be

limited to future textbooks. What future textbooks are using Hines’s photos? Have textbooks

used Hines photos in the past, before 1982, before Trachtenberg wrote this book? Hines

started doing photography in the early 1900s and stopped around the late 1930s, it is not like

his work was just discovered and now being put into a textbook. Trachtenberg is also being

hypocritical by expressing that documentary photography is a limited category and those artists

39 Jae Emerling, Photography History and Theory, (London: Routledge, 2012), pg. 82.

29

who are categorized as a documentary

photographer will be used in textbooks.

The cover of Trachtenberg’s book has a

picture of one of Walker Evans photos

(figure 6), one of the more famous

documentary photographers in

American history.

The last part of Trachtenberg’s

quote is about how Hines documentary

photography cannot be in the new

order of social art in photography. Why

is Hine’s photos not considered social

art? Many scholarly authors earlier in

the essay mention how Hine’s work was used for social reform. What other scholarly authors

also believes that Hine’s was not a part of social art reform? Trachtenberg does not back up his

beliefs with any sources in any part of that quote. Earlier in my essay, there are scholarly

authors who talk about Hine and other documentary photographers who used their work for

social reform. Trachtenberg later on in his book does talk about how Hine did great work for

social issues: magazines Hine was published in, posters for the Child Labor Committee used.

This contradicts Trachtenberg’s early quote how Hine’s work can never be a part of the new

order of social art in photography. Is Trachtenberg trying to insinuate that no other scholarly

author believed his work was for a social reform in art?

30

To prove that at least one part of Trachtenberg’s quote is wrong, I will focus on the last

part of the quote about how Hine cannot be in the new order of social art in photography. I am

doing this to point out that Trachtenberg is not using any sources to prove his argument. I

found two more sources and their argument is that Hines’ work was used for social reform with

actual sources, unlike what Trachtenberg claims. For a reminder, Lewis Hines was most famous

for his pictures in the early twentieth century of immigrants, child labor, and the working man.

The first author I choose is Deborah L Smith-Shank. Smith-Shank’s article is titled Lewis Hine

and His Photo Stories: Visual Culture and Social Reform. Smith-Shank’s article mentions the

different ways Hines’ photography was

used for different social movements. “In

1906, the National Child Labor Committee

hired Lewis Hine to help them in their

struggle to implement laws prohibiting child

labour… He photographed children in

fisheries, factories, and farms where they

were expected to act like, work like, and

survive difficult conditions like adult

workers in order to bring home pennies per

work”.40 Here, Smith-Shank’s argument is

proving that Hines’ documentary photos

were used for a social reform with the Child Labor Committee. This means that Trachtenberg’s

40 Deborah L. Smith-Shank, “Lewis Hine and His Photo Stories: Visual Culture and Social Reform,” Art Education 56, no. 4 (2003): 35, accessed November 18, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3194019.

31

quote is being proved wrong, how his photos were not a part of the new order of social art. The

National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) is using Hines’s photos (figure 7 on pg. 31) as a means

to change child labor laws. In Smith-Shank’s article she has plenty of source that back up her

argument that Hine was using his documentary photos as a mean as for the new order of social

art.

The second scholarly author I found to prove Trachtenberg wrong is Patricia Pace. Pace

wrote an article titled Staging Childhood: Lewis Hine’s Photographs of Child Labor. Pace is

proving again in her argument that Hine’s work is being used in a social reform way. Hines’

photos were recognized as something so spectacular that in the 1930s the curator of the

Museum of Modern art, Beaumont Newhall displayed them for America to see and be amazed

like Newhall was. “In recognition of Hine’s lifetime of work, Newhall wrote: “These photographs

were taken primarily as records. . . . The presence in them of an emotional quality raises them

to works of art” (qtd. in Kaplan, Photo Story xxii). Thus Hine’s photographs are jointly praised

for their polemical value as objective representations documenting the truth of a specific

historical circumstance in the external world (in this case, a severely under-reported 1,752,187

child workers in American industry in 1900), and also for Hine’s artistic point of view”.41 Pace

found sources of the actual curator Newhall praising Hine that his photos were both

documentary and work of art. Throughout Pace’s article is other sources backing up her

argument that Hine’s photos are documentary photographs and that its art.

I am not trying to prove that Hine’s work was for a social art reform but to prove that

Trachtenberg is not backing up his argument with sources. The scholarly authors disproving

41 Patricia Pace, “Staging Childhood: Lewis Hine’s Photography of Child Labor,” The Lion and the Unicorn 26, no. 3 (2002): 325, accessed November 17, 2015, http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/uni/summary/v026/26.3pace.html.

32

Trachtenberg have a clear argument and sources backing up their argument. That quote I

picked for Trachtenberg’s book is not backed up with any sources. Trachtenberg is assuming

things. A quote like that should have separate paragraphs like I did explaining Trachtenberg’s

argument using source. Throughout Trachtenberg’s book I can not tell what the argument is. Is

his argument that there is no such thing as documentary photography? Trachtenberg talks

about Hine in a positive way but he believes that Hine and the other documentary

photographers were not documentary photographers. Then Trachtenberg just talks about

Hine’s life and what exhibitions he was in and the context behind his photos.

Conclusion

Documentary photography is about showing the American public the truth of what is

going on whether it is viewed as an art form or to portray social issues. The scholarly authors

Agnes Sire, Jean-François Chevrier, and Allan Sekula argue that documentary photography is a

form of art. Sire focuses on the documentary photographers Evans and Cartier-Bresson and

their photo exhibits in the famous museum, Museum of Modern Art. Chevrier argues that

Evans viewed his works of art more as photographs than documents. Sekula and his argument

is that a documentary photograph is first an art form then a use for social issues. Sekula’s article

is the oldest article from 1978, that I have for this paper. Sekula’s argument differs from

Chevrier and Sire by looking at documentary photography as a whole instead of just two artists.

They all argue though that documentary photography is an art form and not just used for social

issues.

33

For what I found on books and articles there was not much arguing that documentary

photography is more of a form of art, there are more books and articles and I intend to find

them. I hope to find more books and articles with different time ranges of when they were

written, to find a changing argument about documentary photography being an art form. Or

there might possibly be a shortage of books and articles that argue that documentary

photography is an art form. Sekula, Sire, and Chevrier did a great job of arguing that

documentary photography as an art form for being the only three sources I found.

The scholarly authors I chose to argue that documentary photography is used for social

issue have a similar argument. Price and Rosler have some of the best arguments that

documentary photography was for social uses. Price’s argument is that documentary

photography was used as a tool, and Rosler argues before documentary photos were in art

galleries they were in magazine, journals and for social organizations. Szto backs up Rosler’s

argument by presenting the reader with journals that had documentary photographs in them,

or organizations that wanted documentary photographs. Most of the scholarly authors like:

Guimond, Stange, Price, Rosler, Fleischhauer, Brannan, and Szto follow a trend with

documentary photographers or organizations in a time line. Starting with Jacob Riis, leading

into Hine, the child labor laws, and immigrants, then the depression era with the New Deal and

FSA, lastly Evans and documenting the American culture. Fleischhauer and Brannan do argue

that documentary photography was used for social purposes but they have a select time period

from 1935-1943. So Fleischhauer and Brannan don’t include information on Riis, Hine, the child

labor laws, and immigrants. Fleischhauer and Brannan have a different chapter on a different

artist and, do not connect the artist to each other and the social organizations they worked for

34

throughout their book. The main argument with all these authors is that: documentary

photography was not to be a form of art but for artist to spread awareness of social issues in

America using their documentary photographs.

Most of the books that I found that argue about documentary photography is for

documenting social issues all range from the late 1980s-the early 2000s. I know there are books

and articles on documentary photography that are older and more recent but, these are the

books and articles that I found at this time. Guimond, Stange, Price, Rosler, Fleischhauer,

Brannan, Szto, Fleischhauer and Brannan all follow a similar argument like stated in the last

paragraph and maybe that’s because the books and article were written around the same time

period. I wish I found other books that were from a later time period to found out if argument

about documentary photography had changed over time.

Another aspect of documentary photography that I added was the theory of

documentary photography. The scholarly authors who looked at the theory of documentary

photography tried more to define what photography is, like Emerling, Modrak, and Anthes.

They all admit that their different definitions of documentary photography is not an exact

definition of documentary photography but, an idea of what documentary photography means.

Emerling reminds the reader to research an artist’s background because artist may or may not

be considered a documentary photographer. Readers must research an artist’s works. Emerling

also mentions that some art historians and critics have a different view of what documentary

photography is compared to others. That means researchers have to look at different

perspectives of different art historians as long as they have a valid argument with sources.

35

Some authors were terrible with their scholarly information like Trachtenberg.

Trachtenberg had absolutely no sources with some of his arguments, he said what he felt

without any scholarly sources to back up his argument. Trachtenberg did write positively about

Hine but he makes no effort to portray anything about documentary photography. However

Trachtenberg makes it seem that he is the only one that writes positively about Hine and his

work. So it would be best to not use his work in any form except going through what sources he

does have to read more books.

Earlier in my essay I mentioned about two book reviews by Craig and Peeler who

reviewed Stange and Trachtenberg. For Trachtenberg they both had positive reviews about his

book Reading American Photographs: Images as History Mathew Brady to Walker Evans. Craig

focused more on the first part of Trachtenberg’s book with Brady which I didn’t read or use for

my essay because Brady is a Civil War photographer. Peeler also compliments Trachtenberg’s

book but focuses more the whole book instead of one part of the book. The only thing I agree

with Peeler is that Trachtenberg covers a wide variety of photography covering from 1840-

1940.42 This is a huge time period to cover which is great to have such a good timeline and

connections. However this did not change my opinion of Trachtenberg and his book. I still

would not use for a historical research paper.

Documentary photography can be argued as an art form and a use for awareness of

social issues. It is just how the scholarly author argues about documentary photography, and

scholarly author’s needs sources for their arguments. The authors who argue that documentary

photography is an art form, social, issue or a theory all used valued sources to contribute to 42 David Peeler, “Deconstructing American Photographs,” American Quarterly 42, no.3 (1990): 507, accessed October 10, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2712946.

36

their scholarly works. I would recommend all the books and articles except for Trachtenberg for

researchers to use for further research on documentary photography.

Bibliography books:

Documenting America, Edited by Carl Fleischhauer and Beverly W. Brannan. Los Angeles:

University of California Press, 1988.

Benjamin, Walter “The Work of Art in the Age Mechanical Reproduction”. In Art in Theory 1900

2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas 1992, edited by Charles Harrison and Paul Wood,

520-527. Massachusetts, Blackwell Publishing, 1992.

Chevrier, Jean-François. “A Dialogue?” in Henri Cartier-Bresson Walker Evans Photographing

America 1929-1947 2009, edited by Thames & Hudson, 27-47. London, Thames and

Hudson, 2009.

Emerling, Jae. Photography History and Theory. London: Routledge, 2012.

Grange, Ashley la. Basic Critical Theory for Photographers. Burlington: Focal Press, 2005.

37

Guimond, James. American Photography and the American Dream. Chapel Hill: The University

of North Carolina Press, 1991.

Kyvig, David E. and Marty, Myron A. Nearby History Exploring the Past Around You. Lanham:

AltaMira Press, 2010.

Modrak, Rebekah and Bill Anthes, Reframing Photography Theory and Practice. London:

Routledge, 2011.

Price, Derrick. “Surveyors and Surveyed photography out and about” in Photography a Critical

Introduction 1997, edited by Liz Wells, 55-102. London: Routledge, 1997.

Rosler, Martha. “In, around, and afterthought (on documentary photography)”, in The Contest

of Meaning: Critical Histories of Photography 1989, edited By Richard Bolton, 303

333.Massachusetts: the MIT Press, 1989.

Sire, Agnes. Introduction to Henri Cartier-Bresson Walker Evans Photographing America 1929

1947, edited by Thames & Hudson (London, Thames and Hudson, 2009.

Stange, Maren. “Documentary Photography in American Social Reform Movements: The FSA

Project and its Predecessors,” in Multiple Views: Logan Grant Essays on Photography

1983-89 1991, edited by Daniel P. Younger, 195-223. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1991.

Stange, Maren. Symbolism of Ideal life Social Documentary Photography in America 1890-1950.

New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Trachtenberg, Alan. Reading American Photographs Images as History Mathew Brady to Walker

Evans. New York: The Noonday Press, 1989.

Bibliography articles:

Craig, Robert L. “Photography in American History, Culture and Society: A Review Essay.”: 106-115. accessed October 1, 2015, jci.sagepub.com.

Pace, Patricia. “Staging Childhood: Lewis Hine’s Photography of Child Labor.” The Lion and the Unicorn

26, no. 3 (2002): 324-352. Accessed November 17, 2015,

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/uni/summary/v026/26.3pace.html.

Peeler, David. “Deconstructing American Photographs.” American Quarterly 42, no.3 (1990): 505-512.

accessed October 10, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2712946.

Smith-Shank, Deborah L. “Lewis Hine and His Photo Stories: Visual Culture and Social Reform.” Art

38

Education 56, no. 4 (2003): 33-37. Accessed November 18, 2015,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3194019.

Sekula, Allan. “Dismantling Modernism, Reinventing Documentary (Notes on the Politics of

Representation).” The Massachusetts Review 19, no. 4 (1978): 859-883. Accessed November 21,

2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25088914.

Szto, Peter. “Documentary Photography in American Social Welfare History: 1897-1943.” The Journal of

Sociology & Social Welfare 30, no. 2 (2008): 91-110. Accessed November 12, 2015,

http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol35/iss2/6.

Bibliography list of illustrations:

Figure 1. At the Time of the Louisville Flood. Location: Louisville, KY, US Date taken: February 1937 Photographer: Margaret Bourke-White, from: http://www.pbase.com/image/118277227 (date accessed 11/20/2015).

Figure 2. Jacob Riis, 5 Cent Lodging, 1889, from: http://www.jamesmaherphotography.com/articles/8-documenting-the-social-scene (accessed 11/19/2015).

Figure 3. Henri Brassai, Sleeping Tramp in Marseilles, 1935. From: https://www.pinterest.com/kathy4236/brassai/ (accessed 11/20/2015).

Figure 4. Walker Evans, Allie Mae Burrough, 1936 From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_Evans (accessed 11/21/2015).

Figure 5. Walker Evans, Torn Movie Poster, 1931 From:

http://designobserver.com/article.php?id=38331 (accessed 11/22/2015).

Figure 6. Cover of Alan Trachtenberg’s book, using Walker Evans, License photo Studio, New York, 1934 From: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51jpN%2B6IgTL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg (accessed 11/18/2015).

Figure 7. Lewis Hine, Luther Watson, of Corinth, KY, 14 years old, Dec. 30, 1906, right arm was cut off by a veneering saw in a box factory (in Cincinnati) on Nov. 14, 1907 From: http://hosted.brainspiral.com/morningsonmaplestreet/2014/11/26/luther-watson-page-one/ (accessed 11/24/2015).

39