"Lewis Hine" and "The Future of America: Lewis Hine's New Deal Photographs" are two complementary exhibitions of works by this American pioneer of social documentary photography. "JFK November 22, 1963: A Bystander's View of History" examines the imaginative reception of these iconic photographs. "Zoe Strauss: 10 Years" presents portraits and documents of houses and signage.
From October 4, 2013 through January 19, 2014, the International Center of Photography will present
two complementary exhibitions of works by Lewis Hine, an American original who was a pioneer of social
documentary photography.
During the early decades of the 20th century, Hine focused his lens on marginalized communities in
America, calling attention to the plight of immigrants, the poor, and child laborers. Trained as a sociologist,
Hine sought to awaken the public to the social injustices of the day, and he found photography a tool
perfectly suited to accomplish this task. Later, in the 1920s and 1930s, he directed his efforts toward
portraying American working men and women who were employed in a wide variety of occupations.
Through unforgettable images of individuals and industries that were deeply affected by the economic
turmoil of his era, Hine vividly illuminated social issues that are still with us today.
Lewis Hine
Organized by the George Eastman House in Rochester, N.Y., the exhibition Lewis Hine presents a
comprehensive overview of the photographer’s life and work. Featuring more than 150 vintage prints from
the George Eastman House collection, the exhibition begins with Hine’s earliest photographs documenting
the arrival of immigrants at Ellis Island around 1905 and his gritty images of tenement life on the Lower
East Side. Extensive selections from each of Hine’s major projects are included, such as his 1910 series on
Hull House in Chicago, his visual reports on the activities of the American Red Cross in Europe after World
War I, and “Men at Work,” a powerful 1932 documentation of the construction of the Empire State Building.
In addition, examples of Hine’s lesser-known projects, including a series of portraits of black Americans
made in 1920, are on view. To demonstrate the ways that Hine’s photographs were originally encountered
by their audience, the exhibition also presents a number of the magazines and books in which Hine’s
images first appeared.
Lewis Hine is curated by Alison Nordström, Curator-at-Large at George Eastman House International
Museum of Photography and Film, which holds the world’s largest and most complete archive of Hine’s
work.
The Future of America: Lewis Hine’s New Deal Photographs
In addition to Lewis Hine, ICP will present The Future of America: Lewis Hine’s New Deal Photographs.
Organized by Hine scholar Judith Mara Gutman, this smaller exhibition includes the least known but most
prescient photographs taken by Hine when he was hired as chief photographer for the National Research
Project (NRP), a division of the federal government’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) founded in late
1935.
Under an executive order of President Roosevelt, the NRP was established to investigate recent changes
in industrial technologies and to assess their effects on future employment. In more than 700 photographs,
taken in industrial towns throughout the Northeast in 1936 and 1937, Hine revealed not only working
conditions in aging industrial factories, but also in new industries and productive workplaces.
The NRP published hundreds of reports illustrated with Hine’s photographs on a broad variety of
agricultural, manufacturing, and mining activities. His works captured the look of labor and industry in
transition, while the entire NRP story provides provocative parallels to today’s economic challenges. The
exhibition draws on ICP’s archive of more than 300 of Hine’s prints from the NRP series and the master
holdings at the National Archives.
Lewis Hine was organized by the George Eastman House with support from the Terra Foundation in
collaboration with Fundación Mapfre, Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Nederlands Fotomuseum.
The Future of America: Lewis Hine’s New Deal Photographs is made possible with support from Deborah
Jerome and Peter Guggenheimer, and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural
Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
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ALSO ON VIEW
JFK November 22, 1963: A Bystander’s View of History
When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, the event
and its aftermath were broadcast to a stunned nation through photography and television. The exhibition
examines the imaginative reception of these iconic photographs and includes stills from Abraham
Zapruder’s famous footage of the assassination, as well as news photographs, snapshots by bystanders,
souvenirs, and scrapbooks.
Organized by ICP Chief Curator Brian Wallis on the fiftieth anniversary of
the tragedy, these visual artifacts demonstrate the active role of photography in negotiating trauma and
facilitating mourning.
Zoe Strauss: 10 Years
For a decade between 2001 and 2010, Philadelphia photographer Zoe Strauss (b. 1970) showed her
photographic works once a year in a public space beneath an I-95 highway overpass in South Philadelphia,
mounting her color photographs to the concrete bridge supports and selling photocopies for five dollars.
Through portraits and documents of houses and signage, Strauss looked unflinchingly at the economic
struggles and hardscrabble lives of residents in her own community and other parts of the United States.
This exhibition is a mid-career retrospective and the first critical assessment of her decade-long project.
THE PICTURE WINDOWS SERIES: Gideon Mendel’s Drowning World
EXTENDED through the fall
In conjunction with A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial, a large-scale installation of Gideon
Mendel’s Drowning World series occupies the museum’s 43rd Street windows
Image: Lewis W. Hine, Icarus Atop Empire State Building, 1931. Transfer from Photo League
Lewis Hine Memorial Committee; ex‐collection of Corydon Hine. © George Eastman
House Collection.
Press contact:
Krishna Knabe 212.857.9707 kknabe@icp.org
Camille Ortiz 212.857.0048 cortiz@icp.org
Media Preview October 3, 2013 11:30am-1:30pm
The International Center of Photography ICP
1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street New York, NY 10036
Hours:
Tuesday–Thursday: 10 am–6 pm
Friday: 10 am–8 pm
Saturday–Sunday: 10 am–6 pm
Closed Mondays
Admission:
General Admission: $14
Students and Seniors (with valid ID): $10
Children under 12: Free