Through his amazing variety of innovative images, photographer Paul Strand (1890–1976) played a crucial role in establishing the medium’s significance as a modern art form. Celebrating the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s recent acquisition of the core collection of Strand’s prints from the Paul Strand Archive, this stunning book comprehensively reassesses the artist’s career in light of current scholarship and critical debates about his work. Featuring more than 250 plates, the catalogue includes many of Strand’s iconic early photos such as Wall Street and Blind Woman alongside lesser-known prints from all phases of his career.
Discussing the artist’s prolific career, from his emergence in Alfred Stieglitz’s circle in New York in the early part of the century to his years spent working abroad in places such as Mexico, France, Italy, and Africa, Peter Barberie positions Strand as a remarkably independent modernist whose priorities shifted at several points and often ran counter to prevailing trends. Amanda N. Bock focuses on the years 1930–50, when Strand thoroughly explored the role of politics in modern art and relentlessly sought to identify the greater purposes of photography and filmmaking. The edited transcript from a roundtable discussion among key scholars touches upon many aspects of Strand’s various projects from the 1930s to the 1960s. A detailed chronology brings to light new information about the life and work of an extraordinarily important and influential twentieth-century photographer.