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Friday 17 December 2010

John Vachon: Blinds, Frames (Dubuque, Iowa, April 1940)


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Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Sash and door mill, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/8a05000/8a05300/8a05398v.jpg

Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Boys playing with bows and arrows near railroad tracks, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Privy, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Bulletin board outside sash and door mill, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Grocery store window, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Sash and door mill, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Children who live in the slums, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Children who live in the slums, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Quarantine sign in window, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Sign, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Abandoned casket factory, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Boys playing in alley, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Daughter of sash and door mill worker, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Old shot tower, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Workman going home, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Earl Kluck's Tavern, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Bank, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Italian resident, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Automobiles after light snow fall, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Resident of shacktown, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Hotel, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

City limits, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Residential section, middle income class, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Privy on outskirts of Dubuque, Iowa, with courthouse in background: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Sign in window of city mission, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Foraging for food in the city dump, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Residence, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Shack on the edge of the city dump, Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940

Photos by John Vachon from Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information. Library of Congress

13 comments:

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

After a Photo by John Vachon

Windows broken,
glazed over, abandoned
casket factory.

Don

TC said...

Don, my heart fell open from there to here:

Insects are crying;
A hole in the wall
Not seen yesterday.

-- Issa

(R.H. Blyth, Haiku: Vol. IV Autumn-Winter)

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

On, yes, Tom, an Issa I haven't seen and so perfectly capturing his all-encompassing compassion. From this morning's post @ The Hut, another Issa I hadn't seen:

Don't weep, insects-
lovers, stars themselves,
must part.

-- Issa, translated by Lucien Stryk

Vachon shares with Issa the sound of anguished hearts ...

TC said...

And a sweet post that is, Don.

rain in the downspouts
before dawn -- the very large
in the very small

STEPHEN RATCLIFFE said...

Tom,

Yes, "the great and seemingly inexhaustible Vachon" -- what an eye to show us such things, that casket factory, those children who live in the slums . . . .


12.17

grey whiteness of cloud against shadowed
top of ridge, motion of leaves on branch
in foreground, sound of waves in channel

this object in this appears,
which was arrangement

of “flatness” comparable to
color, “subject,” one

cloudless blue sky reflected in channel,
wingspan of gull gliding toward horizon

Ed Baker said...

some eye
these "slums"
my home

Anonymous said...

These all seem like scenes I can see and feel every day if I drive from Paoli (near my house in Berwyn) to Center City, Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue, not the highway route, i.e., closely following the path of Main Line local train to 30th Street. Things get unhappier as you approach the city (crossing City Avenue), but the depression is apparent from the beginning of the drive. Vachon's eye is incredible. So must his heart have been.

STEPHEN RATCLIFFE said...

Tom,

Yes, "Blinds, Frames" -- how much offstage action John Vachon catches in each of these . . . .


12.18

grey whiteness of fog against invisible
ridge, green shapes of leaves on branch
in foreground, wave sounding in channel

element of composition more
or less, row of trees

so it is that what is still,
and also, within this

grey-white of sky reflected in channel,
whiteness of gull gliding toward ridge

TC said...

Vachon's eye is incredible. So must his heart have been.

offstage action John Vachon catches in each of these . . .

element of composition more
or less,

yes, yes, yes.

Julia said...

It's very interesting how you end the series of images with such a tremendous confrontation: the big residence and the poor shack (Does the sign says that it's open to visits?)

Espero que hoy te encuentres mejor de salud.

TC said...

Gracias, Julia, para entender este relato tan poco así.

El abismo social entre los ricos y los pobres ha existido siempre en los EE.UU., aunque esto no siempre es reconocido.

American Home: Abierta al público - un mensaje irónico con varios niveles de significado.

SarahA said...

Oh well worth trailing through all these for that old chap smiling his toothless (nearly) smile. Beautiful, you. You can see his smile has come right from the bottom of his heart.

TC said...

Yes, he is all there for us, then ... and now.