Marion Post Wolcott facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Marion Post Wolcott
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Wolcott in 1940
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| Born | June 7, 1910 |
| Died | November 24, 1990 (aged 80) |
| Occupation | photographer for the Farm Security Administration |
Marion Post Wolcott (born June 7, 1910 – died November 24, 1990) was an American photographer. She worked for the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression. Her job was to take pictures of how people lived. She showed the struggles of poverty and the challenges faced by people in the Jim Crow South.
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Early Life and Photography Beginnings
Marion Post was born in Montclair, New Jersey, on June 7, 1910. Her parents were Marion Hoyt and Walter Post. She grew up in Bloomfield with her older sister, Helen. When Marion was thirteen, her parents divorced. She then went to boarding school. During breaks, she stayed with her mother in Greenwich Village. There, she met many artists and musicians. This sparked her interest in dance and art. She also studied at The New School.
Marion first trained to be a teacher. She worked in a small town in Massachusetts. There, she saw firsthand the difficulties of the Great Depression. She saw how much poor people struggled. When her school closed, she traveled to Europe with her sister, Helen. Helen was studying photography with a famous photographer named Trude Fleischmann in Vienna. Marion showed Fleischmann some of her own photos. Fleischmann told her to focus on photography.
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A Career Documenting America
While in Vienna, Marion saw the early attacks by the Nazis on the Jewish people. This was a very upsetting experience for her. Soon, she and her sister had to return to America for their safety. Back home, she went back to teaching. But she also kept taking photos. She became involved in groups that were against fascism.
At the New York Photo League, she met other photographers like Ralph Steiner and Paul Strand. They encouraged her work. Marion was working for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. But they often gave her "ladies' stories" to photograph. Ralph Steiner took her photos to show Roy Stryker. Stryker was the head of the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Paul Strand also wrote a letter to recommend her. Stryker was very impressed with Marion's work. He hired her right away.
Marion's photos for the FSA showed the serious side of poverty. But they also often found humor in the everyday situations she captured. Her pictures helped people understand the challenges of the time.
In 1941, she met Leon Oliver Wolcott. He worked for the U. S. Department of Agriculture. They got married. Marion Post Wolcott continued her photography assignments for a short time. But she resigned in February 1942. It was hard for her to balance her photography with raising a family. She also traveled and lived overseas a lot.
In the 1970s, people became interested in Marion Post Wolcott's photos again. This made her want to get back into photography. In 1978, she had her first solo photo show in California. By the 1980s, important museums like the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art started collecting her pictures. The first book about her work was published in 1983. Marion Post Wolcott also spoke up for women's rights. In 1986, she said: "Women have come a long way, but not far enough. . . . Speak with your images from your heart and soul."
Her photographs are kept in important places. These include the Library of Congress and the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona.
Later Life and Death
Marion Post Wolcott died in Santa Barbara, California, on November 24, 1990. She passed away from lung cancer.
Gallery
All photographs are by Marion Post Wolcott.
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African American children from Wadesboro, North Carolina, 1938.
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"Negro Home near Charleston, South Carolina", 1938.
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"Ada Turner and Evelyn M. Driver Home Management", 1939.
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"Two Negro women carrying packages, one has a box of surplus relief commodities on her head. Natchez, Mississippi", 1940
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A juke joint located in Belle Glade, Florida, 1944.
See also
