Vernacular Photography and the Documentary Tradition

with Christopher B. Steiner, Professor of Art History, Connecticut College

Individual Lecture ticket $10 (Members 10% discount)

Five Lecture Series ticket $45 (Members 10% discount)

We tend to associate the rise of the documentary tradition with the work of well-known photographers like Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Russel Lee and Arthur Rothstein who photographed the effects of the Great Depression for the Farm Security Administration. But it is also important to recognize that their “professional” work took place in an environment where amateur photography was quickly spreading across America. With the availability of inexpensive snapshot cameras and easier-to-process negatives and prints, average men and women had the ability to document for themselves their families, neighbors and communities.

This talk examines the relationship between professional documentary photography and vernacular photography – demonstrating that the two traditions developed side-by-side and greatly influenced one another.

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This exhibition is made possible with the generous support of CT Humanities, HSB, Department of Economic and Community Development, Connecticut Office of the Arts, Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut, as well as donors to the Exhibition Fund and the Annual Fund. Media sponsor: WSHU Public Radio.

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