Lewis Hind Vs. Jacob Riis

Transcription

1 Lewis Hind Vs. Jacob Riis Lewis Hind , used photography as a tool to achieve social reform. He became a teacher in New York City at the Ethical Culture School, where he encouraged his students to use photography as an educational medium. From the beginning of his career Hind thought of himself as an artist. However he defined his work as social photography in a 1908 Charities advertisement where he stated that his goal was to offer graphic representation of conditions and methods of work. He is chiefly remembered for his work in his campaign against Child Labour working for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC), founded in 1904 which provided research expertise, supported local child labor committee, informed the public of existing conditions, and worked to ensure that laws would be passed to prohibit child labor. The power of Lewis Hind s images was in their composition the posing, lighting, and subject matter, which all worked together to appeal to the viewers emotions. Unlike Riis, Hind attempted to humanize his subjects. Much of Hine's work is not a protest but a celebration of people who had nerve, skill, muscle, and tenacity. There is in his pictures little pity and much love and respect for those who were casually called the common people. Hind understood that many immigrants came to America to seek a better life. His early photographs depict hopeful families arriving at Ellis Island. 1

2 Like Riis, Hind took many photographs of families in tenement dwellings. However, Hind s subjects are often smiling and engaged in the task at hand. Hind s goal was to create intimate, personal human portraits. To accomplish this, he often photographed his subjects directly in front, from the waist up, establishing an equality between the subject and the viewer. Hind s subjects often look directly into, or just to the side of, the camera. This method gave the impression that the viewers know or could identify with the subjecs. 2

3 Hind also juxtaposed his subjects to illustrate class differences The Crusade against Child Labor meant that Hind travelled around the USA photographing child workers in factories, mills, mines and canneries. Hind created an extensive photographic record that enabled the NCLC to present its case to the public and to federal government officials. 3

4 Appealing to the Victorian Conscience Riis believed that environmental changes could improve the lives of the numerous unincorporated city residents that had recently arrived from other countries. Riis attempted to incorporate these citizens by appealing to the Victorian desire for cleanliness and social order. Neighbourhoods In his photographs, Riis showed that the unincorporated could be dangerous; that their abodes were dirty; that neighbourhood streets were crime-ridden. By appealing to the consciences and fears of middle-class and upper-class city residents, Riis helped initiate reform efforts. Riis's photographs had a certain shock value. He looked for images that would have a strong effect on his viewers dirty children on the streets, men living in dumps and cellars. Mothers and Children Riis's photographs challenged Victorian notions of mothers and children. One of his photographs shows a mother with her naked children standing on a rooftop. In others, children play out on the streets unattended. These photographs contrasted sharply with images of children in late-nineteenth-century America. 4

5 Dwellings Riis's photographs also challenged Victorian notions of the home. In one photograph, a tenement family makes cigars at the table. In another, a man sits down to a solitary meal in a coal cellar. De-Emphasizing the Individual He often de-emphasized the individual in favour of the total setting. Accordingly, he photographed many of his subjects at a distance to show them in their squalid surroundings. In 1888 Riis was employed as a photo-journalist by the New York Evening Sun. Riis was among the first photographers to use flash power, which enabled him to photograph interiors and exteriors of the slums at night. He also became associated with what later became known as muckraking journalism. In December, 1889, an account of city life, Illustrated by Photographs, appeared in Scribner s Magazine. This created a great deal of interest and the following year, a full length version, How the other half lives, was published. The book was seen by Theodore Roosevelt, the new your police commissioner and he had the city police lodging houses that were featured in the book closed down. 5

6 Summary, Hind and Riis employed different techniques to get across their message, although both photographers were aiming to improve the life and conditions of their subjects. Hind used his skill as an artist photographer to portray his subjects in a human way, showing their personality and spirit, their attitude to work as well as the harsh conditions the children were working under. By allowing the viewer to identify with the children in the pictures the public became supporters of the cause to improve their conditions although child labour in America continued until at least Riis by contrast set out to shock the viewer by showing the human condition in terrible conditions. The effect was to dehumanise the subject, but also to appeal to the Victorian mood and attitudes of the time for cleanliness and order. The shock tactics probably emerged from the attitude of press editors who wanted to have a strong story to sell their newspapers. Hind on the other hand was under no such commercial pressures. Source: 6