Photography in the Urban Milieu, ’30s-’50s

February 11, 2011

Photography in the Urban Milieu, ’30s-’50s

The New York School Photographs 1936-1963

The reading begins with a summary of the history of photography.  However Jane Livingston states from the start that the history of photography is constantly being rewritten.  The main focus of the reading is one part of this history, the time period of the 1930s, 1940s, ad 1950s.  During this time period, there was a group of photographers in New York City who made up the New York School.  These sixteen photographers were Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Alexey Brodovitch, Ted Croner, Bruce Davidson, Don Donaghy, Louis Faurer, Robert Frank, Sid Grossman, William Klein, Saul Leiter, Leon Levinstein, Helen Levitt, Lisette Model, David Vestal, and Weegee.  My personal favorite is Diane Arbus.  They all lived in New York City in some part of their lives. 

“I really believe there are things which nobody would see unless I
photographed them.” – Diane Arbus

A little preview of how Arbus works.

The New York School photographers broke the rules.  They did not care about the rules or the consequences of breaking them.  They had a passion for photography and would go beyond the bounds of its historical techniques and equipment to capture the images they wanted to record. 
They were highly influences by film noir.  This is an early cinema style of black and white crime dramas.  Another common thread among the group was they did not start out with photography as their original art form.  They moved to photography from painting, film and design.  The New York School photographers considered it an honor to be photographers. 

The three major influences of the New York School were Lewis Hine, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans.

Helen Levitt was greatly influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson who she did not personally meet until 1945.  Unlike her mentor, she never considered being a commercial photographer.   She regarded herself as an outsider.  Her street photography began in 1937.  She had an exhibit of black and white photographs of children in the Museum of Modern Art between 1941-1943.  In 1965, her book, A Way of Seeing: Photography of New York had images from all walks of life.  Through the images she was able to tell a story that written word could not.  She continued her New York City street photography long after the other original sixteen members.  While street photography became more common for the everyday photographer, Levitt was able to continue her work in creative and new ways.  Levitt lived in New York whole life. 

my street art.

Robert Frank gained the recognition that few in the New York School ever received.   He published The Americans in 1958. Prior to his book, he had The Family of Man exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art.   He spent time in Europe before coming to New York.  In 1955 and 1956, he received two fellowships which allowed him to take the grant money to take photography road trips throughout the United States.  The result was The Americans. 

He used a 35mm and abandoned studio/flashbulb lighting in favor of natural light.  One technique that he used was to capture lighting through windows.  I have experimented with this technique many times.    He did a lot of commercial work for magazines and newspapers like the New York Times. 

My window lighting technique.

"When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they
want to read a line of a poem twice." Robert Frank

Louis Faurer was longtime friend of Robert Frank.  Faurer did not receive the same recognition or success as his friend.  It wasn’t until the late 1970s, that he received the acknowledgement of his work when undiscovered work was exhibited.  He used a Leica camera along with a wide F-stop and slow shutter speed to capture his images.  He pushed the limits of photography.  He did so however effortless to the final image.  As Faurer said himself, “the most perfect technique is that which is not noticed at all.” 

William Klein worked as a fashion photographer at Vogue for 12 years but never felt like he “sold out” to commercialism.  In fact he credits his relationship with Alexander Lieberman, Vogue’s art director, as the key reason he was able to publish his book New York.  He published three other books, Rome, Moscow and Tokyo.  The images used have dark tones and shadows.  The images are often out of focus and blurred.  He originally trained to be a painter however discovered photography through his murals.  Once he began photography, he did so completely. 

The City

The City was an interesting documentary film.  The opening excerpts are not unlike the scenes we see every day in Chicago.  Yes, our clothes and cars are different but the rush, the crowds and the traffic jams are the same.  From there we move to scenes of a more rural life.  The final excerpt is about the “new city”.  The new city is portrayed as the perfect life for Americans.  You can walk to work, go home for lunch and be with your family, your children can play safely and carefree in the neighborhood.  It is the “Leave it to Beaver” lifestyle.  I suppose life was this simple once.  It has not been in my lifetime.  My generation does not experience the carefree life depicted in the film.  The ending of the film asks the questions that we are still asking today “do you want a better life – the choice is yours.”  One other note, the musical score moved well through the film and added feeling to the scenes.