Depression years revealed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jung and Locke weren't as well known as other FSA photographers so this book is a useful look at their work. Jung was one of the first to be hired, in 1935, by Roy Stryker to travel around the country and reveal the poor living conditions caused by the Depression. His assignments in Ohio, Indiana and Maryland are covered with some particularly strong photos of poverty in Ohio taken in April 1936. Pages forty-four to forty-seven show seven photos of two families living in shacks, the captions explain they were soon to be resettled in proper homes. The Maryland photos have some excellent work of land where trees have been cut down making the land nearly impossible to farm even though landowners rented it out to impoverished settlers. Jung apparantly took too few photos on his assignments which annoyed Stryker so his job was changed to a designer for the FSA.

Edwin Locke was an assistant to Stryker from 1935 to 1940 and only worked on assignments for less than a year from 1936. The book looks at his work in New England, the Appalachians and the huge 1937 floods caused by the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Walker Evans, probably the most famous of the FSA photographers also covered the flooding and  the book's introduction makes an interesting point that Locke left many of his photos of the disaster unnamed so they could be credited to Evans. Locke's assignment to New England has several interesting photos of street scenes and the people of Manchester, New Hampshire taken in 1937, the copy says these photos might have been taken on a single weekend.

I thought the book, with probably more than 160 photos, was an excellent overview of these two photographers, neither of which seem to have any other books about their work. The title's format is interesting too, because the author has presented the photos in the same way they were originally used in newspapers and magazines of the Depression years with copy and detailed captions fulfilling the FSA remit of revealing poverty in America.