John Vachon
John Vachon | |
---|---|
Born | John Felix Vachon[1] May 19, 1914 Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S. |
Died | April 20, 1975 New York City, New York, U.S. | (aged 60)
Nationality | American |
Known for | Photography |
John Felix Vachon (May 19, 1914 – April 20, 1975) was a world-traveling American photographer. Vachon is remembered most for his photography working for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) as part of the New Deal and for contributions to Look magazine.
Biography
John Vachon was born on May 19, 1914, to a middle-class Irish Catholic Family in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He was the son of Ann Marie (O'Hara) and Harry Parnell Vachon.[2] His parents were not well off, his father made a get-by living as a traveling salesman in stationery supplies.[3]He had one younger brother named Robert. Vachon had a Catholic education and graduated from Cretin High School local military Catholic high school (now Cretin-Derham Hall High School).[3] He continued his education at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul and received a bachelor's degree in 1934.[4] Vachon moved to Washington, D.C., after receiving a fellowship to attend graduate school at Catholic University of America to study English literature and become a writer. As he began his studies, a few months later, he was forced to leave school due to his drinking. After his leave from graduate school, Vachon looked for work around Washington, D.C.,finding his first job in photography working for the Farm Security Administration's Historic Division as one of the photographers hired by Roy Stryker to document the plight of migrants during the Great Depression.[5]
In about 1938 Vachon married Millicent Leeper who was known as Penny.[4] While Vachon was on the road working as a photographer for the FSA, he wrote daily letters to Penny, as well as to his mother. He wrote them to describe his experiences, ambitions, self-doubt, sense of humor, obligation to the FSA, the people he met, the news he read about, and the movies he watched. In the letters, Vachon describes how he relied on Penny to support him and his work.[6] They had three children. Penny committed suicide in 1960.[4] Vachon married Marie Francoise Fourestier in 1961. They had two more children. Vachon served in the United States Army in 1945.[7] Vachon's daughter, Christine Vachon, became an independent film producer in adulthood and son Micheal became an editor whom worked with his father in later years.[5]
Career
Farm Security Administration
The FSA was a
Other notable employment
As the Great Depression lessened and American involvement in the
Timeline
- 1914: May 19 Born, St. Paul, Minn.
- 1934: B.A., St. Thomas College, St. Paul, Minn.
- 1936–1937: Assistant messenger, Farm Security Administration, Washington, D.C.
- 1937–1940: Junior file clerk and unofficial photographer, Farm Security Administration, Washington, D.C. circa
- 1938: Married Millicent (“Penny”) Leeper (died 1960)
- 1940–1942: Junior photographer, Farm Security Administration, Washington, D.C.
- 1942–1943: Photographer, Office of War Information, Washington, D.C.
- 1943–1944: Photographer, Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey
- 1945: Served in United States Army 1945–1947 Photographer in New Jersey and Venezuela for Jersey Standard
- 1946: Photographic assignment, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, Poland
- 1947–1949: Staff photographer, Life magazine, New York, N.Y.
- 1947–1971 Staff photographer, Look magazine, New York, N.Y. 1961 Married Françoise Fourestier
- 1971–1975 Freelance photographer, New York, N.Y.
- 1975 Visiting lecturer in photography, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minn. 1975, Apr. 20 Died, New York, N.Y.[7]
Gallery
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Segregated drinking fountain on the Halifax County Courthouse (North Carolina), April 1938.
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1938 Ball team at Irwinville Farms, Georgia
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Ozark children getting mail from RFD box, Missouri. May 1940
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September 1939 Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.
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Streetcar, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1939
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September 1940 Bethlehem Steel Mill, Sparrows Point, Maryland
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1940 Photograph of advertisements in Woodbine, Iowa
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Original caption: "Negro Family waiting for ride into town", Halifax County, Virginia, March 1941.
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Worker at carbon black plant in Sunray, Texas, 1942.
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1942 Lincoln, Nebraska
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Doctor administering a typhoid vaccination at a school in San Augustine County, Texas, April 1943.
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New Orleans, Louisiana, 1943. View on Canal Street, with the D. H. Holmes department store fascade covered with large advertisements urging support for the World War II effort.
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1943 New Orleans, Louisiana. Ramp boats under construction at the Higgins shipyards
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Cincinnati, Ohio, 1942 or 1943.
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June 1943 New Orleans, Louisiana. Patrol Torpedo boats under construction at the Higgins shipyards
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November 1943. Grain elevator in Amarillo, Texas.
Notes
- ISBN 9783895082504.
- ISBN 978-0-520-22378-3.
- ^ a b c d e "John Vachon: A Certain Look". AMERICAN HERITAGE. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-22378-3.
- ^ a b "Vachon, John (1914–1975) | MNopedia". www.mnopedia.org. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
- ^ JSTOR 4520698.
- ^ a b Cartledge, Connie L. (December 2010). "John Vachon Papers: A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress" (PDF). Library of Congress. Retrieved May 12, 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b c "Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives –". www.loc.gov. 1935. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
- JSTOR 26443779.
- ^ "Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives – About this Collection". www.loc.gov. 1935. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
- ^ "Kolekcje - Muzeum Warszawy". kolekcje.muzeumwarszawy.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2024-02-22.
- ^ "JDC – Archives – Search Results". search.archives.jdc.org. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
External links
- “This Great Nation Will Endure”: Photographs of the Great Depression Special Exhibition Opens September 12th, 2004
- Brochure from “This Great Nation Will Endure”
- Biography at Illinois State Geological Survey
- Murphy, Mary (2005). "Review of John Vachon's America: Photographs and Letters from the Depression to World War II". Montana: The Magazine of Western History. 55 (2): 81–82. JSTOR 4520698.
- Doud, Richard K.; Vachon, John (2005). "An Interview with John Vachon 28 April 1964". Archives of American Art Journal. 45 (1/2): 18–32. S2CID 192808082.
- Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives
- New Deal Books: Book Review: New Deal Photography: USA 1935-1943, Farm Security Administration, 605pp