A Vision Shared: A Portrait of America 1935–1943

by Bernarda Shahn (foreword), Paul Taylor (Afterword), Hank O'Neal (Editor)

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of this classic, the indelible work of the now-iconic Farm Security Administration photographers Featuring the work of the 11 photographers who worked for the Farm Security Administration--perhaps the finest photographic team assembled in the 20th century-- A Vision A Classic Portrait of America and Its People 1935–1943 was first published in 1976 to great acclaim, and was named one of the 100 most important books of the decade by the Association of American Publishers. "By any measure this is a remarkable book," wrote Alden Whitman in The New York Times , "one of the few beneficent fruits of the Depression and one of the few collections of photographs to limn both the starkness of American life in those years and the indomitable strength of those who endured them." For the project, John Collier, Jack Delano, Walker Evans, Theo Jung, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Carl Mydans, Arthur Rothstein, Ben Shahn, John Vachon and Marion Post Wolcott were invited by photographer Hank O’Neal to choose the best of their own work and provide commentary, resulting in an oversized hardcover full of large, black-and-white images of America during the Great Depression. For the 40th-anniversary edition of this remarkable volume, all of the photographs, texts and historical materials that comprised the original edition have been carefully reproduced, followed by a new afterword by O’Neal detailing the events that followed the book’s initial release. Elegant in its simplicity, A Vision Shared is a reminder of the power of photographic storytelling, as readers are pulled into the lives of ordinary Americans and the places where they lived.

383 pages, Hardcover

Published January 22, 2019

Reviews

[Mikey B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dorothea Lange


This is a remarkable photographic depiction of the United States during the depression years and the early years of World War II (of course the U.S. only joined in December/1941 but they were already on a war footing by then). I am fortunate to have found the original 1976 version at my local used bookstore (this is not the one represented in this GR edition).

There are nine photographers represented in this book, among them Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange. There are short biographies of each photographer. The photographic reproductions are excellent.

The photographers were hired by Roy Stryker of the Resettlement Administration, formed in 1935, and later called the Farm Security Administration. This was one of many programs set up by the Roosevelt administration. One aim was to inquire, by photography, on the plight of farm workers and rural America across the length and breadth of the United States. The photographers were given free reign to go out there and take photos. Each one felt retrospectively that this was a culminating stage in their careers. The results were a historical and cultural landmark. We can see why when looking at the photos in this book.