The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951

During the heyday of documentary photography, the Photo League emerged and enabled a generation of young photographers to speak through an unflinching lens. New York City dominates the frames, with many of the 150 plates representing the exciting metropolis during the depression and post-War years. Lewis Hine captures the weary hopefulness of a child of the Depression; Ruth Orkin creates a bold abstraction of hats, legs, and concrete in Times Square. Better-known photographers like Paul Strand and Weegee were also members of the renowned collective, but it is the forgotten stories of the Photo League, like those of Lucy Ashjian and Vivian Cherry, that round out this dramatic collection. Photo League photographers were occasionally criticized for their politics and their resolute stance regarding their subjects, but ultimately it was McCarthy's Communist blacklist, not aesthetic debate, that shuttered the organization. For this book and a traveling exhibition, The Jewish Museum and the Columbus Museum of Art have brought together their collections and their expertise to record the history of a short-lived but influential arts organization. (Nov.)