Elizabeth Vanarragon

The Photo League: Views of Urban Life in the 1930s and 1940s Elizabeth Vanarragon

This is a study of the New York Photo League, an association of amateur and professional photographers active between 1936 and 1951. The members of the Photo League were as convinced of the significance of photography as a mode of visual expression as they were committed to using the camera as a tool for change. Although they claimed many of the leading photographers of the period among their membership and advisors including Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, and Paul Strand, the Photo League's activities were brought to an end following their blacklisting in 1947. This book surveys the images and activities of the Photo League, focusing on the work of four members, Walter Rosenblum, Sid Grossman, Aaron Siskind, and Weegee. Each provides an example of a different solution to the problem of the relationship between documentary form and social content while portraying immigrant and working class experiences of New York City in the 1930s and 1940s.