The New York Public Library Commemorates 70th Anniversary of Legendary Photography Society with Retrospective Exhibition

"Where Do We Go From Here?": The Photo League and Its Legacy (1936 - 2006), documenting the blacklisted organization features works by its members including Ansel Adams, Margaret Bourke-White, Walter Rosenblum, and Weegee, on display from October 27, 2006 to February 18, 2007

Lewis Hine's "Two Mill Workers", ca. 1905
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Print Collection.

Where Do We Go From Here?: The Photo League and Its Legacy (1936-2006), a 70th anniversary exhibition celebrating the depth and talent of the Photo League's members, will be on view at The New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street from October 27, 2006 to February 18, 2007. This free exhibition features nearly a hundred photographic prints from over twenty of the League's most esteemed advisors, members, and teachers.

Historical treasures evoking the heyday of the League include Lewis Hine's vintage contact prints of mill workers, and Ellis Island; Ansel Adams' portrait of Bridal Veil Falls; Vivian Cherry's 1940s snapshot of a group of boys carousing on top of a truck; Weegee's photograph of a sleeping man in a wintry Central Park; and Ann Zane Shanks' portrait of children in a Virginia housing development playground.

"The Photo League provided a professional, social and creative outlet for photographers at precisely the time that photography was entering American consciousness as a medium worthy of historical consideration," remarks Stephen Pinson, Curator of the Photography Collection. "For this reason, the history of the League is integral to the history of photography in the United States. At the same time, the demise of the League as a result of its blacklisting in 1947, is particularly relevant to contemporary audiences given recent concerns about domestic surveillance and threatened civil liberties."

The Photo League was a cooperative of amateur and professional photographers whose activities formed a significant movement for American photographic activity in the 1930s and 40s. The group resulted from a split among film and still photographers in the Film and Photo League, an offshoot of Workers International Relief, an organization that supplied the left-wing press with images of working-class life. The filmmakers, under Paul Strand, eventually formed the production company Frontier Films. The photographers, led by Sid Grossman and Sol Libsohn, founded the Photo League in 1936.

Notable photographers, including Berenice Abbott and Margaret Bourke-White sat on the advisory board and they persuaded other well known figures such as Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon, and Lewis Hine to lecture and exhibit their work. Weegee had his first exhibition at the Photo League and became an enthusiastic member.

As the only noncommercial photography school in America at the time and having trained over 1,500 photographers during the years it was open, the Photo League was poised, by 1947, to realize an ambitious plan to become the Center for American Photography. That plan was cut short after the League appeared on the attorney general's list of subversive organizations in December 1947.

In January 1948, the photographer Walter Rosenblum published the article "Where Do We Go From Here?" in response to the blacklisting of the Photo League by Attorney General Tom Clark. Disregarding the actual photographs produced by the League's members, the FBI emphasized the organization's commitment to social causes in order to allege subversive activities and social alliances. Despite the fact that claims of subversion were never substantiated, the Photo League was forced to disband in 1951 after an informant testified that it was a front organization for the Communist Party.

Now recognized as an important force in the development of American photography, the Photo League trained an entire generation of New York photographers, a number of whom continue to practice today. This exhibition celebrates the diverse work of these photographers and their unflagging commitment to their medium. At the same time, it serves as a reminder that the political climate of the nation can have real consequences on its cultural life.

In this exhibition, works are shown from photographers' careers both during and after their formal association with the Photo League. Among those whose work will be shown are Ansel Adams, Margaret Bourke-White, Vivian Cherry, Morris Engel, George Gilbert, Rosalie Gwathmey, Lewis Hine, N. Jay Jaffee, Dorothea Lange, Helen Levitt, Sol Libsohn, Walter Rosenblum, Ed Schwartz, Anne Zane Shanks, Lee Sievan, Aaron Siskind, Erika Stone, David Vestal, Todd Webb, Weegee, Dan Weiner, Sandra Weiner, and Ida Wyman.

About The Photography Collection

The Photography Collection of the New York Public Library comprises approximately 400,000 photographs, including examples of almost every photographic process from the earliest daguerreotypes to contemporary digital images.

The Photography Collection was developed in 1980 when images culled from other NYPL departments and branches were brought together to form a new division. The historically stated focus of the collection has been "documentary photography," a term originally coined in the 1930s to describe the work of photographers who attempted to document specific social conditions. The Photography Collection, which has significant holdings in this area, actually encompasses a much broader range of the medium, including images made for commercial, industrial, and scientific application as well as images for the press and other print media, the vernacular of amateur snapshot photography and original works intended for exhibition and/or the art market.

Future collection activity and development will focus on fulfilling the department's role as the most accessible public resource in New York City for the study of photographs and the history of photography.

About The New York Public Library

The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to its services. It comprises four research centers - the Humanities and Social Sciences Library; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and the Science, Industry and Business Library - and 87 Branch Libraries in Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Research and circulating collections combined total more than 50 million items, including materials for the visually impaired. In addition, each year the Library presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include classes in technology, literacy, and English as a second language. The Library serves some 15 million patrons who come through its doors annually and another 15 million users internationally, who access collections and services through the NYPL website, www.nypl.org.

Where Do We Go From Here?: The Photo League and Its Legacy (1936-2000) will be on view from October 27, 2006 through February 18, 2007 in the Print and Stokes Galleries at The New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library , located at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan. Exhibition hours are Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. beginning September 10 (except December 10, 24, and 31); closed Mondays, and holidays. Admission is free. For more information, call 212-869-8089 or visit www.nypl.org.

This exhibition has been made possible through the continuing generosity of Miriam and Ira D. Wallach.

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Contact :             Jennifer Lam  212.592.7700           

JL:08.18.06:nypl056