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Curator's Corner

Photographs from October 1991: Sophie Ristelhueber

Monday, October 21, 2024 | Karl Cole

Ever since the Crimean War (1853–1856) between Russia, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), Britain, and France and the American Civil War (1861–1865)—the first wars to be extensively docume ...

Curator's Corner

Documenting Child Labor: Jacob Riis

Monday, March 25, 2024 | Karl Cole

If we think that only adult women have played an important role in American history, then we are sadly mistaken. Before child labor laws were passed in the United States (1 September 1916), young wome ...

Curator's Corner

Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Dean Brown

Monday, January 15, 2024 | Karl Cole

This year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day falls on the actual birthday of this great American leader. To mark the day, I will show you the work of photographer Dean Brown. The artist died way too young pu ...

Curator's Corner

Poverty Awareness Month: Zoe Strauss

Monday, January 8, 2024 | Karl Cole

Poverty Awareness Month evolved out of recognition by Congress in 2009 that the U.S. poverty rate is rising at an alarming level every decade. I doubt it is any coincidence that January was chosen as ...

Curator's Corner

Art about Working People

Tuesday, September 5, 2023 | Karl Cole

The earliest ideas about a day to honor working Americans came about from labor unions in the 1880s. In fact, the idea of a national holiday is thought to have come from labor union officials in New Y ...

Curator's Corner

AAPI Heritage Month 2023: Chan Chao

Tuesday, May 30, 2023 | Karl Cole

Photography was a groundbreaking art form when it was first introduced. Quite soon after its development, numerous Western photographers explored photography for documentary and journalistic purposes. ...

Curator's Corner

Women's History Month: Lucy Ashjian

Monday, March 20, 2023 | Karl Cole

In the first half of the 1900s, there were numerous pioneering women documentary photographers who defined the genre. This was particularly true during the Great Depression (1929–1940), the seve ...

Curator's Corner

Facing the Past: Jennifer Karady

Monday, January 9, 2023 | Karl Cole

Many people would probably prefer to forget about the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq, but there is something therapeutic about facing them and admitting they happened. Artist Jennifer Karady uses h ...

Curator's Corner

A Visual Tribute to Labor Day Week 2022

Monday, September 5, 2022 | Karl Cole

Aside from the myth of Sunday as a “day of rest” in the West, it’s interesting to me that there is only one day a year that celebrates “labor” in the U.S. The movement to ...

Curator's Corner

Pride Month 2021 II: Berenice Abbott

Monday, June 7, 2021 | Karl Cole

By the time of the severe world economic downturn of the Great Depression (1929–1940) in America, many women artists were professional photographers and extremely successful in the field of ...

Curator's Corner

A Christmas Card: Mary Ellen Mark

Monday, December 16, 2019 | Karl Cole

Leave it to Mary Ellen Mark to sum up the ironies of a time of year that is touted as “joyous” and “home for the holidays” in social media! Kudos to the late artist for pointin ...

Curator's Corner

Compassion in Art: Consuelo Kanaga and Zoe Strauss

Tuesday, October 30, 2018 | Karl Cole

My Compassion in Art series continues with a look at the subject in photography. ...

Curator's Corner

Afterthoughts about Being Thankful: Lewis Wickes Hine

Friday, December 4, 2015 | Karl Cole

Now that we’re done saying how grateful we are for all the food with which we stuffed ourselves on Thanksgiving, and for our iPhones, and the gift of being able to drive one person per car to wo ...

Curator's Corner

Artists and Refugees: Lewis Hine

Monday, July 14, 2014 | Karl Cole

It often astounds me how little we learn from history (and by “we” I mean we human beings: any culture on this planet!). If you need reminding, I mention the massive immigrant/refugee cris ...

Curator's Corner

Unsung Heroes: Dorothea Lange

Monday, June 23, 2014 | Karl Cole

There are many ways to be a hero. I by no means denigrate our men and women in the armed services, who have given their all recently in two wars (one of which should never have happened). But, there a ...

Curator's Corner

Empathetic Photographer: Marcela Taboada

Monday, November 1, 2010 | Karl Cole

The creative impulse is universal; I think we can all pretty much agree on that. I think we can also all agree that photography is fine art. It’s always neat when photographers document other cr ...

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Photographs from October 1991: Sophie Ristelhueber

Documenting Child Labor: Jacob Riis

Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Dean Brown

Poverty Awareness Month: Zoe Strauss

Art about Working People

AAPI Heritage Month 2023: Chan Chao

Women's History Month: Lucy Ashjian

Facing the Past: Jennifer Karady

A Visual Tribute to Labor Day Week 2022

Pride Month 2021 II: Berenice Abbott

A Christmas Card: Mary Ellen Mark

Compassion in Art: Consuelo Kanaga and Zoe Strauss

Afterthoughts about Being Thankful: Lewis Wickes Hine

Artists and Refugees: Lewis Hine

Unsung Heroes: Dorothea Lange

Empathetic Photographer: Marcela Taboada

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