A Good Picture Is Hard to Kill: Hansel Mieth and Social Reform Photojournalism, 1934-1949

FAIN: FT-56650-09

Dolores Flamiano
James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA 22807-0001)

My book project examines photography history through the work of German emigre photographer Hansel Mieth (1909-1998). She was a migrant farm worker who used her camera to document the harsh living conditions and camaraderie of California's fruit pickers, waterfront workers, and immigrants. In the 1930s, Mieth and Margaret Bourke-White were the only women staff photographers at this popular magazine. Mieth's LIFE photographs include powerful visual documents of women, workers and minorities in the 1930s and 40s. These images illuminate the shifting relationship between social reform photography and commercial photojournalism. Scholars have argued that magazines appropriated the style and emotional engagement of social reform photography to promote dominant ideologies and social conformity. My book investigates this claim and contributes to an understanding of photography's role in shaping public discourse on American history and national identity.

Associated Products

Women, Workers, and Race in LIFE Magazine: Hansel Mieth's Reform Photojournalism, 1934-1955 (Book)
Title: Women, Workers, and Race in LIFE Magazine: Hansel Mieth's Reform Photojournalism, 1934-1955
Author: Dolores Flamiano
Abstract: The tension between social reform photography and photojournalism is examined through this study of the life and work of German émigré Hansel Mieth (1909-1998), who made an unlikely journey from migrant farm worker to Life photographer. She was the second woman in that role, after Margaret Bourke-White. Unlike her colleagues, Mieth was a working-class reformer with a deep disdain for Life's conservatism and commercialism. In fact, her work often subverted Life's typical representations of women, workers, and minorities. Some of her most compelling photo essays used skillful visual storytelling to offer fresh views on controversial topics: birth control, vivisection, labor unions, and Japanese American internment during the Second World War. Her dual role as reformer and photojournalist made her a desirable commodity at Life in the late 1930s and early 40s, but this role became untenable in Cold War America, when her career was cut short. Today Mieth's life and photographs stand as compelling reminders of the vital yet overlooked role of immigrant women in twentieth-century photojournalism. Women, Workers, and Race in LIFE Magazine draws upon a rich array of primary sources, including Mieth's unpublished memoir, oral histories, and labor archives. The book seeks to unravel and understand the multi-layered, often contested stories of the photographer's life and work. It will be of interest to scholars of photography history, women's studies, visual culture, and media history.
Year: 2016
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing Limited
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9781472456304
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

---