Paul Strand: The Life And Work Of The Artist

11 Pages 2783 Words

To those who view Paul Strand’s photographs, it becomes clear that he was a master of the art form. His attention to detail and quality along with his high regard for craftsmanship provided his work with a unique and engrossing aesthetic. To those who study Strand, it becomes clear that he is a man with an elusive appeal, a living dichotomy. This is true with regards to his omittance of projects he felt were important at their conception while discussing his life’s work, his partnership with and imitation of certain artists and denial of the full scope of their influence on him, and his love and pursuit of American symbolism and later self-imposed exile from America.
Strand’s early work began in 1907 during his attendance of the Ethical Culture School in New York City. A new class dealing with photography had just been introduced at the school that same year by professor Lewis N. Hine. He had worked hard to convince the school’s administration of the art form’s legitimacy. Strand enrolled in his class the following year. (Rosenblaum 32)
Hine took the class to visit the Photo-Secession gallery at 291 Fifth Avenue. Strand was taken with the gallery and later alluded to it’s being a turning point in his photographic career, calling it, “a vista of photography as a medium of expression.” (Rosenblaum 33)
At ECS, Strand took a class in art appreciation in his Senior year, which was taught by famous art critic Charles Caffin. It was very likely that this class was the reason Strand took a trip to Europe and toured the many famous museums there in 1911, giving him his first taste of the continent that would later become his final home.
Having graduated in 1909, Strand had to seek out a way to earn a living. While he loved photography, it was a spiritual outlet full of aesthetic possibilities for him. He was uneager to struggle through a low-level job in the industry. His father gave him a position as a cler...