Photo League Questions

1. What was The Photo League's credo?

The photo leagues credo held that the camera was more than a means of recording reality. It was a device with a potential to change the world.

2. What organization did The Photo League separate from?

The Photo League separated Workers International Relief. They were originally known as the Worker's Camera League.

3. What was the workshop?

It was a basic documentary photography workshop where Sid Grossman taught advanced technique classes.

4. Who taught "the workshop?"

Sid Grossman.

5. If you were to devote one year of your life to one project, what project is worth your time and energy?

I would travel on an expedition to Africa or South America to study various types of plants and animals, and perhaps discover a new species.

6. What was The Harlem Document?

The Harlem Document was a collection of portraits of Black urban American and the people, culture and lifestyles of Harlem during the 1930's.

7. Who started The Harlem Document?

Aaron Siskind started The Harlem Document.

8. A photographer discusses a photograph where "the children looked like they came out of a __________ painting. Who was the painter?

Caravaggio

9. Why did the photograph mentioned in #8 look like it was by the painter?

The sun was coming down and one kid was illuminated by the sun.

10. Who was Lewis Hine? (name two significant contributions)

He was an american photographer who inspired the Photo League’s collective portraits of urban life. He was a photographer for the National Child Labor Committee and he also worked for the Red Cross during the Depression to photograph the drought relief in the American South.

11. Who was Weegee?

Wee gee was the pseudonym for Arthur Felling. He was known for his black and white street photography and his quirky personality.

12. How did The League change when The Nazis took power?

The immigrating refugees from Nazi Germany and surrounding territories supplied an influx of new talent and faces to the photo league. Photographers like Laudi Jacobi, Erica Cocfer and Lizet Model were a few of the new photographers.

13. How did The League change during WWII?

Photo League members used their cameras in support of the war. Feature groups documented war production, parades and parties. Female members assumed a much larger role in keeping the League running. Trained photographers served in every branch of the armed forces.

14. How did Siskind change after WWII?

Siskind switched from documentary and realism photography, the type of photography he had championed before the war, to more abstract expressionism.

15. What was the Saturday Evening post?

It was a bimonthly American magazine that started in 1897.

16. Who was Barbara Morgan? What did she photograph?

She was a photographer from Kansas best known for her photos of modern dancers. She also cofounded the photography magazine Aperture.

17. What eventually undermined the Photo League?

The Photo League was listed on a government publication of subversive, communist, fascist and totalitarian organizations.

18. What was the "Growing Menace" mentioned in the film?

Communism

19. Who agreed to serve as President when The League was under investigation?

W. Eugene Smith.

20. What happened to the league?

Photo League Member and FBI Informant, Angela Calomiris testified that the League was a front for the Communist Party. Afterward, the membership dropped and members left and the Photo League disbanded in 1951.