STRAND, Paul

About the American photographer, Paul STRAND (1890-1976).

Paul STRAND was one of the most influential American photographers of the 20th century. He grew up in New York as the son of Bohemian immigrants. Lewis HINE taught him the basics of photographic work. Through him he also got to know Alfred STIEGLITZ and the Photo-Secessionists. Between 1925 and 1930 he undertook several journeys through areas of the USA & Canada unknown to him. During this time he discovered the rural life of America and the fascination of representation. From 1932 to 1934 he lived in Mexico. Here he expanded his expression of culture and people. After nearly ten years of film work, Strand returned to photography in 1944. His project 'Time in New England', was to be an attempt to discover the traces of surviving traditions in the manifestations of a region, its landscape and people. In 1951 he settled in Orgeval (France), as America no longer offered him any prospects for life and work in the wake of the communist persecution that had begun in the McCarthy era. Paul STRAND died in 1976 in his house in Orgeval.

Photo books by and about the work of Paul STRAND (a selection)

• 'Time in New England' (1950, 1980); 'La France de Profil' (1952); 'Un Paese' (1955, 1974, 1997, 2021); 'Land der Gräser' (1962); 'Living Egypt' (1969); 'A Retrospective Monograph' (1972); 'Ghana' (1976); 'Die Welt vor meiner Tür. 1950-1976' (1994); 'Southwest' (2004); 'Tir A'Mhurain: The Outer Hebrides of Scotland' (1968, 2004); 'Paul Strand at Work. Toward a Deeper Understanding' (2007); 'In Mexico' 2010); 'Mexique 1932-34' (2012, together with works by Henri CARTIER-BRESSON);