Internationally known photojournalist Horace Bristol is noted for his poignant image of Depression-era Americans, his graphic depiction of World War II naval scenes and his views of post-war Asians, from rice farmers and pearl divers to royalty and military leaders. During the 1930s, Bristol worked in San Francisco with such photographic luminaries as Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Imogene Cunningham and Dorothea Lange before being hired as one of the original staff photographers for LIFE magazine.Perhaps Bristol's most famous photographs are those taken when he was accompanied by John Steinbeck in California's Central Valley. Envisioning a book project and photo essay for LIFE magazine about Oklahoma farmers driven from the dustbowl to work as migrant labor in California, Bristol asked Steinbeck to accompany him to write the text for this piece. However, after several weekends of traveling amongst the workers and getting their stories in words and pictures, Steinbeck informed Bristol that the material was so strong that he intended on using it for a novel. "Grapes of Wrath" was born.The photo essay book died, but Bristol's photographs of the workers, a few of which made it into LIFE and Fortune magazines, were used years later when the studio was casting for the film version of "Grapes of Wrath."
Blossfeldt and Bristol - Masters of 20th Century Photography
December 02, 2005
Santa Paula News
The John Nichols Gallery presents an exhibit of photographs by two masters of 20th century photography, Horace Bristol and Karl Blossfeldt, through December 24.
The John Nichols Gallery presents an exhibit of photographs by two masters of 20th century photography, Horace Bristol and Karl Blossfeldt, through December 24. The gallery has been exhibiting contemporary and vintage photography since 1984, and has become a center for photography in Ventura County.The gallery is located at 916 E. Main St. in historic downtown Santa Paula. Hours are noon to 5, Wednesday to Saturday. Portions of the exhibit can be viewed on the web at www.johnnicholsgallery.com.Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) was a German instructor of sculpture who used his remarkable photographs of plant studies to educate his students about design elements in nature. Self-taught in photography, he devoted himself to the study of nature, photographing nothing but flowers, buds and seed capsules for 35 years. He once said, "The plant never lapses into mere arid functionalism; it fashions and shapes according to logic and suitability, and with its primeval force compels everything to attain the highest artistic form."Published in 1928 when Blossfeldt was 63 and a professor of applied art at the Berliner, "Kunsthochschule, Urformen der Kunst" quickly became an international bestseller and in turn made Blossfeldt famous almost overnight. His contemporaries were enchanted by the abstract shapes and structures in nature that he revealed to the world. In 2001, "Urformen der Kunst" was included in "The Book of 101 Books" as one of the seminal photographic books of the 20th century.
