Photography and politics in America
Subtitle: from the New Deal into the Cold War
By: Lili Corbus Bezner
Publisher: J. Hopkins University Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Baltimore, Md
Language: eng
Number of pages: 307
Subjects: Photography -- United States -- History -- 20th century; Documentary photography -- United States -- History -- 20th century; Photography -- Political aspects -- United States
Description: "In the early and most intense years of the cold war, social documentary photographers often found themselves in ideological turmoil or, worse, in trouble with the government. In Photography and Politics in America, Lili Corbus Bezner argues that many of the photographers of this period retreated from overt political content.

Although critics defended the trend, arguing that truly visionary art transcended politics, Bezner notes that the cold war era effectively silenced some of the most socially engaged photographers in American society."--BOOK JACKET.

"In this book, Bezner brings back many of those silenced voices and offers the first detailed analysis of social documentary photography from the Depression through the early cold war years. She explores the little-known history of the controversial, blacklisted Photo League and leading member Sid Grossman.

And she recalls some of the most important moments in American photographic history of the 1950s, such as Edward Steichen's blockbuster exhibition, The Family of Man, and Robert Frank's influential book, The Americans."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: "Published in cooperation with the Center for American Places Sante Fe, New Mexico, and Harrisonburg, Virginia."

Includes bibliographical references (p. [287]-296) and index