202-885-ARTS
American University Museum at the Katzen
September 3 through December 14, 2011
This major retrospective examines the work of Louise Rosskam (1910-2003), an elusive pioneer of the golden age of American documentary photography. It highlights her compelling photographs of Southwest Washington, DC, neighborhoods before their destruction for urban renewal as well as her images of Puerto Rico, as it developed from a poor US possession to an industrialized commonwealth whose political status remains a contested issue. Guest curated by James Madison University Professor Laura Katzman and Library of Congress Curator Beverly W. Brannan.Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. Metered: 8:00–5:00 weekdays Free: weekends/holidays & weekdays after 5:00
YEARS OF DUST
A man in rumpled clothes walks down a dirt highway. Ahead of him the ground and sky blur together in a bright haze. He has a bedroll slung on one shoulder and stoops a little from the weight. His boots are covered in dust. Turn the page: the man disappears. There’s a second photograph, twice as wide, with a road that is achingly empty. Overhead, a black cloud blots out the sky.
So begins “Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl,” Albert Marrin’s engrossing account of what was arguably the worst ecological disaster in American history. When a severe drought struck the Midwest in 1931, farmers had been churning up the Great Plains for more than half a century. Without native grasses to anchor the topsoil, fields crumbled to dust. Millions of acres of arable land were swept away in black blizzards. Hungry families headed west, pinning their hopes on California. Dust blew so far east, it settled on the White House lawn.
In the best possible way, “Years of Dust” feels like a museum in the form of a book. Marrin knits together natural science and sociology, news stories, snippets from novels and poems, eyewitness descriptions, journal entries, and the words of hard-time bards like John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie. His selection of photographs — paired with maps, posters, engravings and other artifacts — brings the blown-out landscapes to life. (Imagine how thin our understanding of the Dust Bowl would be without iconic images from documentary photographers like Dorothea Lange. Even in the 1930s, these were events you had to see to believe — without pictures, the truth sounded like hyperbole.)
YEARS OF DUST
The Story of the Dust Bowl
By Albert Marrin
128 pp. Dutton Children’s Books. $22.99. (Ages 10 and up)
THE DUST BOWL THROUGH THE LENS
How Photography Revealed and Helped Remedy a National Disaster
By Martin W. Sandler. 96 pp. Walker & Company. $19.99. (Ages 10 to 14)
THE STORM IN THE BARN
Written and illustrated by Matt Phelan
201 pp. Candlewick Press. $24.99. (Ages 10 and up)
Encore: Monday, November 16, 2009, 10:00 p.m.
News & Documentary Emmy® Award Nomination
| Airdate : | 11/16/2009 | Time : | 10:00 - 11:00 pm |
This film brings to life the remarkable stories behind the legendary group of New Deal-sponsored photographers who traversed the country in the 1930s and early 1940s, capturing the face of Depression-era America. The program explores the personal vision and the struggles experienced by photographers Gordon Parks, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Walker Evans, Marion Post Wolcott and Jack Delano, who created some of the most iconic images in history. This unlikely group of photographers and artists was brought together by a fiery prairie populist and government bureaucrat named Roy Stryker. Julian Bond narrates.
KTEH Public Television's video i is the Bay Area's premier showcase of independent film and video. The series that has presented more than 30 films over the years, many of which have won numerous awards at both national and international film festivals. Video i showcases documentaries, narratives, short films and experimental video made by those artists on the cutting edge of cinema - independent filmmakers.
Specializing in diverse artists and subject matter, Video i gives viewers an intelligent and eclectic alternative to the usual television faire. video i is funded, in part, by The City of San Jose and can be seen on KTEH Friday nights at 11pm.
DOCUMENTING THE FACE OF AMERICA: KTEH: "Video i" on Friday October 9th at 11 p.m.
Photo: From the PBS documentary 'Documenting the Face of America'; photograph courtesy the Library of Congress Prints and Photos Division
