Dimensions: 4 5/8 x 6 5/8 in. (11.75 x 16.83 cm) (image)5 x 6 15/16 in. (12.7 x 17.62 cm) (sheet)
Copyright: No Copyright - United States
This is an undated photograph by Lewis Hine. What I find so arresting is how Hine manages to coax so much information out of a muted palette. Look at the road, the way the light falls on it. We can tell it hasn’t been paved; the ground is dry and dusty. The photograph is sepia-toned, which enhances the sense of grit. This is a process that allows the viewer to imagine the past in great detail. The photograph is sharp and nothing is obscured. The boy in the photograph, leaning nonchalantly on his bike, is not quite meeting our gaze. Instead, he looks slightly off to the side, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. I think of other photographers like Walker Evans, who are interested in documenting the vernacular. The picture is a record and has a deep poetry that stays with you.
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minneapolisinstituteofart over 1 year ago
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Lewis Hine was a documentary photographer, educator, and social reformer. Trained in sociology, Hine taught at the progressive Ethical Culture School in New York City before turning his attention to photography. As a photographer for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC), Hine traveled the United States to document children in unsafe working conditions in factories, mines, fields, and city streets. Over ten years, he created an indelible record of the human cost of an exploitative labor market, documenting the tired faces of children at the end of their shifts, or even children mutilated by industrial machinery. These disturbing photographs were used in publications and presentations created by Hine and the NCLC, and ultimately promoted sweeping policy changes designed to protect children.
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