Hindsight: American Documentary Photography, 1930-1950
May 13, 2021 - November 7, 2021
Perlman Gallery
Free Exhibition
Hindsight presents a case for the decisive impact of women upon the history of documentary photography through a selection of prints drawn from Mia’s collection as well as that of Dan Shogren and Susan Meyer. Centering the work of six American photographers—Margaret Bourke-White, Esther Bubley, Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, Genevieve Naylor, and Marion Post Wolcott—the exhibition showcases images that were created for a diverse range of projects, from governmental commissions to editorial assignments. Meant to communicate with audiences increasingly attuned to global social and political movements, these photographs provide insight into lives both everyday and extraordinary: the routines of working people in Brazil; the impact of industrialization upon rural Americans; Black Americans’ experiences of racial segregation and economic inequality; the nonviolent political resistance of Mahatma Gandhi against British colonial rule. In these ways, Hindsight reveals each photographer’s power in the making of historical memory.