tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post8294784605137719778..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Dorothea Lange: Whitfield Family, Person County, North CarolinaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-55442639218218241982019-03-20T15:57:51.575-07:002019-03-20T15:57:51.575-07:00Does anyone know if the Whitfield house is still s...Does anyone know if the Whitfield house is still standing? And if so where is it located? What street and area?Salhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18170541068744331397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-91301952179744285332011-10-19T08:55:14.649-07:002011-10-19T08:55:14.649-07:00Curtis, very often now I find myself wishing it we...Curtis, very often now I find myself wishing it were.<br /><br />But no amount of wishing or hoping<br />will stop our local post office branch closing.<br /><br />"It was no dreme. I lay brode waking."-- T. Wyatt<br /><br />They knew a thing or two, the old masters.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-17912053047608775992011-10-19T08:37:31.243-07:002011-10-19T08:37:31.243-07:00Thank you from Andy and me for your sympathetic re...Thank you from Andy and me for your sympathetic reaction. We're really hopeful that he'll be fine. He's amazingly spirited and the moment he returned home, things (which were already looking up) really brightened in the All Things Great and Small-ville we inhabit. The cats are curiously respectful and his sister Edith Minturn Sedgwick Roberts aka Edie is doing what dogs do -- being properly solicitous, standing guard, etc. I'm trying to clean up two contracts, measure up, etc. I saw a news story on television stating that the US Post Office believes that their path to economic salvation lies in stoking up new sources of revenue-producing junk mail. Sometimes you honestly don't know whether it's all a dream. CurtisACravanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00315707533118640284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-64911174449954807422011-10-19T08:18:49.911-07:002011-10-19T08:18:49.911-07:00Curtis, as I've told you, Andy's plight ev...Curtis, as I've told you, Andy's plight evoked a tear or two here. It's in part an involuntary effect, lacrimal duct something-or-other-ism, leftover of one of those lovely "small stroke" events. But that explanation's just a cover, in this case, for simple pity. And now the memory of Andy's piteous expression, in that photo you put up, is causing a fresh attack of puddling-up. Poor Andy. Pity the poor badger as well. Poor Carolina sharecroppers. Their lives of endless toil. Poor Dorothea -- polio, ulcers, esophageal cancer. For that matter, poor everyone. <br /><br />(I believe I ought to consult a dry pillow forthwith. Tuck in with a wee pinch of country-store-bought Scotch Snuff, perhaps, and dream of collapsing porches...)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-69451288130818699312011-10-19T06:23:15.097-07:002011-10-19T06:23:15.097-07:00Well, it's a great pleasure, whose strength an...Well, it's a great pleasure, whose strength and intensity is partly felt in contrast to the part of life's rich pageant that's currently passing before all of us. That being said (i.e., I've stopped complaining), our dog Andy who had sudden emergency surgery over the weekend is doing remarkably well. Watching things re-knit together and seeing his happy attitude makes the recovery road seem like a very positive thing. I guess the urge to continue to participate in the "dachshund collective unconscious badger quest" is practically inextinguishable. He and I will be reviewing more Dorothea Lange works today. CurtisACravanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00315707533118640284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-54776312743976616472011-10-19T06:04:56.303-07:002011-10-19T06:04:56.303-07:00Curtis, it's not only the focus that varies, b...Curtis, it's not only the focus that varies, but, of course, the degree of resolution in the image scan. While a relatively large share of the Lange negatives have been "scanned-up", the preponderance have not. Naturally there is a satisfaction in the clarity produced by a higher-resolution image. But after having strained my ancient eyeballs for hundreds of nights looking closely at many thousands of these FSA negatives, I've become (almost) able to able to "look past" the image quality, to grasp the essence, as it were, of the thing seen. <br /><br />It's certain that the archivists have chosen which images to "clean up" for us. But there is also an element of discovery in looking at, or even at times looking for, the ones they have chosen NOT to restore.<br /><br />Lange was definitely shooting human stories, and often this meant spending a good deal of time on a specific location, and making a number of images, giving a feel for context. She really wanted to know, and to learn, and to feel. At times we can feel her standing off, and then, presto, getting IN to the story.<br /><br />(The "lots" from which these images come are filed in miscellaneous unsequenced groups, so in piecing them together, there is a sense of working with puzzles. That is a source of much difficulty, and, of course, in the end, of a certain sense of giving history back to itself, when the pieces begin to fit.) <br /><br />"...such a lot of life teeming through this collection that it's actually overwhelming to behold and experience." That says it all, perhaps better than anyone has said it yet. Thanks so much for attending, and for sharing this pleasure.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-71406166167698487212011-10-19T03:46:42.313-07:002011-10-19T03:46:42.313-07:00One thing that I think is powerful in your present...One thing that I think is powerful in your presentation of these images is the juxtaposition of the images which are in perfect focus with those that are not. There is such a lot of life teeming through this collection that it's actually overwhelming to behold and experience. CurtisACravanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00315707533118640284noreply@blogger.com