MUSEE D'HISTOIRE ET D'ART
DU 3 AU 28 AVRIL 1968.
LUXEMBOURG
Exposition: THE BITTER YEARS (U.S.A. 1935-1941)
Ensemble de photographies composé par
EDWARD STEICHEN
SEE EEE NEE TEE
ug
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MUSÉE
D'HISTOIRE
ran:
On sait que la débâcle de Wall Street en 1929 et dans la suite la
Grande Dépression, de concert avec les mauvaises récoltes causées
par des sécheresses et des inondations excessives ainsi que par deg
phénoménes d'érosion, avaient conduit l'Amérique, et particuliére-
ment sa population rurale, dans la crise la plus grave de son
histoire. "I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ills
nourished", dit le président Franklin Delano Roosevelt dans son
adresse inaugurale de 1927. Deux ans auparavant, il avait créé dans
le cadre du Ministère de l'Agriculture la "Resettlement
Administration", qui devait devenir la fameuse "Farm Security
Administration" (F.S.A.). A la tête de la "Division of Information"
se trouva Roy E. Stryker, qui dirigea une équipe de photographes,
tels que Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Arthur Rothstein, Ben Shahn
et d'autres, ayant la charge d'enregistrer les évènements
ineroyables de l'époque, afin d'en informer les nantis d'alors et
de toujours. Fendant des années ce "tean", bien préparé et compré-
hensif, traversa les Etats-Unis dans tous les sens, contactant de
pauvres héres, des métayers ruinés, des ouvriers agricoles affamés,
des chômeurs vagabonds, bref, tous les dépossédés et tous les
déracinés. Leur moisson documentaire comportait 270.000 négatifs.
En 1938, à l'Exposition Internationale de Photographie à New York,
une petite sélection en fut montrée au public ahuri. Au sujet de
ce "show", Edward Steichen écrivit dans "Camera 1939": "Have a 106%
into the faces of the men and women in these pages. Listen to the
story they tell and they will leave with you a feeling of a living
experience you won't forget; and the babies here, and the children;
weird, hungry, dirty, lovable, heart-breaking images; and then ther
are the fierce stories of strong, gaunt men and women in time of
flood and drought....It is not the individual photographers that
+
bn
7|
»
make these pictures so important, but it is the job as a whole as
303)
it has been produced by the photographers as a group that makes it
such a unique and outstanding achievement."
De nombreux films qui depeignent la misere noire
de cette époque sont fondés sur les photos de la F.S.A. John Ford
s'en inspira par exemple, lorsqu'il transposa le fameux roman de
Steinbeck "The Grapes of &rath" (1929). L'illustration d'une foule
d'articles et de livres en provient également.
En 1962, le Musée d'Art Moderne de New York
présenta un choix des photos les plus intéressantes sous le titre
"The Bitter Years", Edward Steichen, le directeur de l'exposition,
lui assigna un double objectif, formulé dans les lignes suivantes:
Je pense qu'il est utile en ce moment de se remémorer ces "Années
Améres" et de les évoquer devant une nouvelle génération qui a ses
problémes et en général ne se rend pas compte de l'énergie et de la
force d'âme qui firent du moment où l'Amérique sortit de la Grande
Dépression une heure de victoire. J'espère en outre que l'exposi-
tion qui montre un aspect important d'une vaste entreprise anènera
peut-être le Gouvernement Fédéral à organiser et à patronner un
service photographique permanent destiné à enregistrer chaque
phase de l'activité des Etats-Unis et de son peuple.
L'ensemble a circulé dans de nombreux pays avant
d'arriver chez nous. Il nous a été généreusement offert par la
Direction du Musée d'Art Moderne de New York à laquelle nous
exprimons nos vifs remerciements. Grâce à ce don nous possédons
maintenant deux des plus importantes collections de photographies
composées par Edward Steichen: "The family of man" et
"The bitter years".
Gérard Thill
Conservateur
du Musée d'Histoire et d'Art
THE BITTER YEARS (1935-1941)
cmt: ant A ANIL a REES BEE ERBE 0 CE EU tr 5. MUS FYE SHE: Sy RAL alr 2 CE
Liste des photographies
John Vachon
Ben Shahn
Marion P. Wolcott
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Carl Mydans
John Collier,dJr.
Arthur Rothstein
F
—
FN
lo
Arthur Rothstein
11
Marion F. Volcott
Arthur Rothstein
Arthur Rothstein
12
I
14
Jack Delano
15
Dorothea Lange
16
Arthur Rothstein
17
Dorothea Lange
Ben Shahn
18
19
Russell Lee
20
Marion P. Wolcott
1
Ben Shahn
As
UN
C
2
Walker Evans
Russell Lee
2 À
Dorothea Lange
Russell Lee
25-30 Angus lic Dougall
Al
Dorothea Lange
Jack Delano
Jack Delano
32
2
^
AL
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
A5,
Zu
S
—~
Marion F, Wolcott
A
J
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Z
a
-
I
k^ ^T
Russell Lee
Picket line at Mid-City Realty,,.
Coal miner's child...
Coal uiner's child taking home...
Wife of migratory laborer with...
He has picked cotton all day...
lispossessed Arkansas farmers...
Interior of wood shack built upon...
Pennsylvania coal miner
An abandoned farm...
Dry and parched earth in the Bad Lari
Negro children and old home...
Ercded land tenant's farm...
Corn withered by the heat...
Lire. M.W., wicGow, who with two...
Industrialized agriculture...
Farner and sons walking...
dust storm...»
Arkansas sauatter's home
Child looking out of window...
Cid Negro, near Canden, Ala..
Children of destitute Ozark...
Negroes in the line-up for food...
Child in May’s Avenue Camp...
Detail of woman's head.
Christmas dinner in home of E,P....
{5 vhotogravhs on one panel of
Roy E. Stryker)
Sharecropper family near Hazelhurst...
Flowing a field of cotton.
Ür. WE.H. à renter on the Way...
ioung cotton Dicker...
These cotton hoers work from...
Member of Allen Flantation...
doe culture, Alabama tenant...
Hoe culture in the South...
Picking cotton, members of..
Lo
qb
qi
Ben Shahn
41
n
Dorothea Lange
Marion P. Wolcott
Marion P. Wolcott
42
3
43
Ld
AL
Ben Shahn
45
Dorothea Lange
46
Walker Evans
Walker Evans
47
48
Walker Evans
49
Walker Evahs
Walker Evans
Walker Evans
Arthur Rothstein
50
51
52
53%
Dorothea Lange
Arthur Rothstein
54
55
Walker Evans
Walker Evans
56
57
Jack Delano
Jack Delano
58
50
Russell Lee
650
Russell Lee
61
Ben Shahn
62
Ben Shahn
63
Ben Shahn
64
Russell Lee
55
Russell Lee
66
Russell Lee
67
Arthur Rothstein
68
Walker Evans
Walker Evans
69
70
Ben Shahn
71
Ben Shahn
72
Jack Delano
27
Walker Evans
JL
Paul Carter
75
Russell Lee
76
Theo Jung
7
Jack Delano
78
Dorothea Lange
70
e
Dorothea Lange
N
Russell Lee
Cotton pickerSsso:socso:
Migratory field worker picking.....
Picking cotton on plantation...
A.J.J.'s youngest child.....
Arkansas cotton pickers......
Plantation Ownerprssess.:
Corner of kitchen in F.B.'s cabin.....
Home cf Bil. seele
Corner of kitchen in B,F.'s home.,.,..
B.F, and his family at home.....
3,F., cotvon sharecropper.:...
Landowner in Moundville, Ala.....
Wife ang child of a sharecropper...
Home of white tenant farmer....
Girl at Gee's Bend....
Negro cabin, Hale County...
Kitchen wall in B.F.'s house...
Children of a "squatter" family...
One of the children of a "squatter"...
Family, squatting on FSA property...
Southeast Missouri Farms...
Children of F. f&mily....
Family of Rehabilitation Client....
Wife and children of sharecropper...
Children looking outside of window...
Child of white migrant worker....
Children of agricultural day....
Child of North Carolina Share....
"Squinchy” asleeDp- wo...
Sharecropper's child. oo
S.N., Tenant farmer....
Family of destitute Ozark....
Mrs. L.3. preparing the afternoon....
Washroom in the dog-run of F.B.'s...
Tubereular mother and child...
Baby in front cf dresser...
Interior of a home..…..0..
EE
he
Interior of à rural house....
Woman on pelief & © 6 à © €
l2-year-old son of a cotton....
FSA elient, former sharecropper..«
81
Dane
m — 4d
82
das
da
83
84
85
36
87
88
89
Oo
O1
FF.
Tq
92
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95
En
-
96
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100
lol
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104
was.
105
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107
lo8
109
llo
111
112
11^
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121
Arthur Rothstein
Russeli Lee
John Vachon
Walker Evans
Walker Evans
Walker Evans
Carl Mydans
Russell Lee
Dorothea Lange
Russell Lee
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Ben Shahn
John Vachon
Dorothea Lange
Arthur Rothstein
Page: Reproduced from
Arthur Rothstein
Walker Evans
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Arthur Rothstein
Ben Shahn
Dorothea Lange
Arthur Rothstein
Ben Shahn
Dorothea Lange
Arthur Rothstein
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Inhabitants of Gee's Bend:.:..
Negro on porch of general store...-
Ozark mountain farmer.s..
F.B., cotton sherecropperessveee
Alabama cotton tenant farmer wife...
L.B,, daughter of cotton cropper...
Baby girl of family living in...»
W.H. family eating dinner....
Grandmother, mother and new-born...
Daughter of migrant autc wrecker...
Power farming displaces tenants...
Carey, Texas. Counhry postmaster...
Roadside advertising along Route 40...
Field with deserted house....
Abandoned tenant house on a mech...
State highway officials moving...
An American Exodus.
State highway officials moving....
Evicted sharecroppersso60
Route ©9 near Tracy, Calif....
One migrant family hauls the....
Car of drought refugees on the...
Tenant farmer moving....
Street musicians in Memphis,....
Baby from Mississippi parked....
SLEeN.- 2.0300
Desti^ute Ozark family.....
Family between Dallas and Austin...
The family of migratory fruit....
Imperial Valley, Calif.....
Family walking on highway, five....
Young Oklahoma mother....
U.S. 54 north of El Paso.....
Flood refugee family near Memphis....
Young family, penniless.-..:
À hitch-hiking family waiting....
On U,S, 99 near Brawely.....
Napa Valley, Calif......
Pirebaugh, Calif....
Georgia road sigN......
Mother and baby of family on road....
122
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120
131
132
153
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136
137
138
139
140
1441
14:2
14-3
1444
14.5
146
147
1418
149
150
151
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153
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155
156
157
158
159
160
161.
16-
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Arthur Rothstein
Carl Mydans
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Russell Lee
Dorothea Lange
Carl Mydans
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Russell Lee
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Marion P. Wolcott
Russell Lee
Russell Lee
Russell Lee
Jack Delano
Jack Delano
Arthur Rothstein
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Jack Delano
Toward Los Àngeles....
Billboard on U.S. Highway 99....
Notice to celery workerS....
Day laborer and wife....
Transplanting sweet potato...
A former tenant farmer from Texas...
Arkansas mother come to Calif...
Migrant potato pickers.....
Labor contractors crew picking peas....
Poverty in the Land of Plenty...
Street of tentS.....
Squatter camp on the flat....
A grandmother washing clothes....
Migrant agricultural worker's....
18-year-old mother from Okla.....
Destitute pea pickers in Calif....
Drought refugees from Okla....
Tubercular wife and daughter of....
Member Southern Tenant Farmer's...
Migratory field worker's home....
Daughter of migrant Tenn....
Brooding child....
Drought refugees, Calif...
Aged woman from Okla....
Woman in pea picker's camp....
Young migrant mother with....
Brawely, Imperial Valley in FSA....
Migrant cotton picker's child....
Grandmother of 22 children....
White Angel breadline....
"Old age" near Washington....
Mrs, L. 91 year old mother of.....
Hands of Iowa tenant farmer's wife....
Mr. and Mrs. O., homesteaders....
E hausted flood refugee resting....
Aged couple at an auction
Mrs. C.L., life-long resident....
F.C. of Corbin Hollow.....
This man was born & slave....
À.S., born a slavé.....
Hanáüs o? Mr, H.B., ex-sia&ayYe....
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205
Jack Delano
Jack Delano
Russell Lee
Arthur Rothstein
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
John Vachon
Dorothea Lange
Ben Shahn
Dorothea Lange
Arthur Rothstein
Marion P. Wolcott
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Ben Shahn
Marion P. Wolcott
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
John Vachon
Russell Lee
Arthur Rothstein
Russell Lee
Jack Delano
Ben Shahn
Jack Delano
Dorothea Lange
Jack Delano
Theo Jung
Ben Shahn
Jack Delano
Russell Lee
Dorothea Lange
y
Dorothea Lange
Russell Lee
Old ex-slave on &à farm...
Tn the home of S.D. Italian FSA....
Helping the plates at dinner on....
A physician cooperating with FSA....
Home of Rural Rehabilitation client....
Home of FSA borrower who moved....
Family living in tent.....
Cabbage cutting and hauling.....
(Stoop Labor.) Gang of Filipino....
Migrant agricultural worker.....
Sharecropper boy, Chesnee.....
Ex-tenant farmer on relief grant....
Line of men waiting in alley....
Waiting for the semi-monthly relief....
Unemployed trappers..'....
Former Texas tenant farmers.....
Migrant field workers.....
Mr. R.B.W. visiting his general store...
The day after election...
Father and son.....
A deputy with a gun on his hip....
Spanish muskrat trappers.....
FSA Camp for migratory agricultural....
Sign during great cotton strike....
Morton County, N.D. Playing cut....
Farm children playing on homemade...
School at Skyline Farms....
Negro mother teaching children....
White Plains, Greene County, Ga...
Interior of Ozark School...
Negro preacher and his wife....
Migratory labor workers....
Farmer and his wife who live...
Prospective clients whose property....
Rehabilitation clients, Boone County...
Mr. and Mrs. 0.A.- Armenian vegetable...
Indian woman, wife of farmer....
Ex-slave with & long memory....
"This is a hard way to serve...."
Migrant man and wife camped near«.«s
20904.
206
207
208
t
P
id
eh
J^
Arthur Rothstein
Dorothea Lange
Jack Delano
Dorothea Lange
M.K. widow living with her daughter...
Ma B. an Arkansas Hosier born 1855
Daughter of Mr. B.G., preacher....
Young child, long hair....