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Bibliographic Information

American modern : documentary photography by Abbott, Evans, and Bourke-White

Sharon Corwin, Jessica May and Terri Weissman

University of California Press , Amon Carter Museum , Colby College Museum of Art, c2010

  • : cloth

Available at  / 3 libraries

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Note

"Published in conjunction with the exhibition American modern : Abbott, Evans, Bourke-White, on view at Amon Carter Musem, October 1, 2010-January 2, 2011, The Art Institute of Chicago, February 5-May 15, 2011, Colby College Museum of Art, July 9-October 2, 2011"--T.p. verso

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

"American Modern", the beautifully illustrated companion volume to the exhibit of the same name, explores the reinvention of documentary photography in the 1930s, focusing on the work of three iconic figures: Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans, and Margaret Bourke-White. More broadly, the book maps the formation of what we now identify as 'documentary style', showing how a marginalized genre associated with Progressive reform politics was transformed into a major component of modern art and public culture in America. The essays by Sharon Corwin, Jessica May, and Terri Weissman describe how each of these three photographers developed a different model of photography - as well as a particular understanding of modernism and modernity - which each believed would set the standard for future generations of artists. American Modern identifies the points where Abbott, Evans, and Bourke-White connected, diverged, and competed, and demonstrates how commercial and governmental commissions, the influence of mass media, the establishment of public institutions of modern art, and international theories of photography all intersected to establish the now-dominant documentary style.

Table of Contents

Directors' Foreword SHARON CORWIN AND RON TYLER Acknowledgments Lenders to the Exhibition Introduction: Modern Documents Berenice Abbott, Elizabeth McCausland, and the "Great Democratic Book" TERRI WEISSMAN "The Work of an Artist": Walker Evans's American Photographs JESSICA MAY Constructed Documentary: Margaret Bourke-White from the Steel Mill to the South SHARON CORWIN Afterword Chronology ANDREA NELSON Exhibition Checklist Index

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