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Blind Woman, from Portfolio Three

Artist/Maker (American, 1890–1976)
Date1916
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 13 × 10 in. (33 × 25.4 cm)
Sheet: 13 3/4 × 10 7/8 in. (34.9 × 27.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of Michael E. Hoffman in honor of John H. Gutfreund (OC 1951)
PortfolioPortfolio Three
Object number1993.25.1.2
Status
Not on view
Copyright© The Paul Strand FoundationMore Information
Early in his career Strand did a series of candid street portraits with a handheld camera. The unique camera was fitted with a special prismatic lens, which allowed him to aim the camera in one direction, and take the photograph at a ninety-degree angle. This image of a street beggar in New York was taken with such a camera. Since its publication in the magazine Camera Work in 1917, Blind Woman has become an icon in American photography, and embodies the interest in social documentation of photojournalists at the time.
Exhibition History
Paul Strand: The Art and Craft of Photography
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (April 25, 1995 - June 18, 1995 )
Exhibition for Lorain County Gifted and Talented Program
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (July 7, 1995 - July 13, 1995 )
Framed and Shot: Photographs from the Allen Memorial Art Museum
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (March 1, 2000 - May 30, 2000 )
Facing America: Portraits of the People and the Land
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (February 18, 2006 - December 17, 2006 )
Collections
  • Modern & Contemporary