Cafés de Paris

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Tweed Librarian

My new favorite site for historic photographs is Paris En Images, an astounding treasure trove of material from the city of Paris’ archives. I am smitten with Paris and am plotting ways to live there for a couple of years once my sweetie and I retire. In the meantime, I live vicariously by reading about Americans who’ve lived there. A friend of mine loaned me David McCullough’s The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, which I haven’t started yet but which looks more intriguing than the other books on my shelf at the moment.

The photos below struck my fancy; I think they represent a good cross section of cafe life in early 20th century Paris. And now, off to start my book. Au revoir!

Photographer Eugène Atget

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Tweed Librarian

Eugène Atget was a French photographer who worked from the late 1800s until his death in 1927. He took thousands of photographs of Paris during his work life, many of which he sold to the National Library, historical societies, and governmental entities. His photographs of architecture and buildings show a glimspe of old Paris that disappeared soon after. He lived in the Montparnasse area of Paris near other artists; Man Ray “discovered” Atget in the early 1920s and published some of his photos in La Révolution surréaliste journal. Ray’s assistant, photographer Berenice Abbott, bought many of Atget’s photographs after he died and published them, exposing them to a much wider audience.

I like the shadows and contrast in his photos, and the eerie blurriness from long exposures. His photos of staircases and doorknockers are great, and his photos of Paris always make me daydream of my favorite city.

Marchand de vin, 1910/1911

Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France

Corsets, 1912

Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France

Les Halles, 1910/1911

Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France

Bitumiers (asphalt layers), 1899/1900

Photo courtesy National Gallery of Art

References:

Atget’s Paris, edited by Hans Christian Admas; Essays by Andreas Krase. Published by Taschen, 2001.

Bibliothèque nationale de France Collections

Berenice Abbott from The Jewish Museum

Atget: The Art of Documentary Photography from the National Gallery of Art

Robert Doisneau and Hedgehogs

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Tweed Librarian

April 14 is 100 years since Robert Doisneau was born, so I thought it’d be fun to highlight a few of his lesser known works. I recently saw the movie “Hedgehog” and while scrolling through some of Doisneau’s work at Atelier Robert Doisneau, I found a set of concierge photos. Quelle chance!

La concierge est dans l'escalier

Parisian concierge, 1964

Muriel Barbery’s novel about a concierge, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, is a great read with lots of literary and art references, a precocious girl, and a cranky concierge.

Photographer Dorothea Lange

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Tweed Librarian

Dorothea Lange was an American photographer who worked for the Resettlement Administration and Farm Security Administration during the Depression. Many of her photographs from this time period were used in a report to the U.S. Senate documenting what was happening to migrant and displaced workers during the Dustbowl and the Depression. She also recorded the Japanese interment for the War Relocation Authority but these photographs were impounded because they were very critical of the Army. They were apparently stashed away in the National Archives until 2005 or so.

I find her work very moving. Though there has been controversy over whether some of the photos were staged, and how she benefited professionally from other’s misery, I see her photos as documentation of some difficult times in our country’s history.

Destitute peapickers in California; a 32 year old mother of seven children. February 1936.

Migratory boy, aged 11, and his grandfather, work side by side picking hops, Willamette Valley, 1939.

Grandfather and grandson of Japanese ancestry at Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California, 1942.

Migratory Mexican field worker’s home on the edge of a frozen pea field, 1937.

These photographs are all from the Library of Congress’ American Memory Project. For more informaton on Ms. Lange’s photography of the Japanese internment, see Dinita Smith’s article Photographs of an Episode That Lives in Infamy from the N.Y. Times.

Edward Steichen

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Tweed Librarian

The Family of Man photography exhibit was curated by Edward Steichen at the Museum of Modern Art in 1955; it included 503 photographs from around the world, organized by universal human themes such as love and death.

My parents had a copy of the Family of Man book when I was a child, and I loved looking at the photographs. The book piqued my interest in photography and geography, and a lifelong love of both. Edward Steichen had an amazing eye, both as a photographer and a curator. These are a few of his photos that I really like.

Beth Merrill, 1928.

Photo courtesy Minneapolis Museum of Art

Inspection of personnel aboard a U.S. submarine at New London submarine base, Connecticut, 1943.

Courtesy Library of Congress

George Gershwin, 1927.

Courtesy Library of Congress/Vanity Fair

Model fashion, 1930.

Courtesy Galerie Clairfontaine

Lila Dimita, 1928.

Photo courtesy Minneapolis Museum of Art

Evening shoes by Vida Moore, 1927.

Memories of Italy

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Tweed Librarian

When I turned 40, I’d never been to Europe. I decided that it was time, and started formulating a plan. I wanted to go somewhere warm where I really liked the food and where it was warm – I was thinking of Italy, Spain, and Portugal. As it happened, I saw a flyer from our local community college that listed a two week language school in Florence that could offer homestays. I attended a short seminar, and really liked the people involved and the price. I arranged for a month off from work, and off I went. Here is a photo montage of the sights. This chilly Portland weather makes me yearn for a sunnier climate, and Italy would certainly do.

Lake Como