Rosa Baez - Lewis Hine’s exhibition: Building a nation

Lewis Hine's self-portrait

Last weekend I had the chance to see the Lewis Hine exhibition placed in San Benito Gallery in Valladolid.

Lewis Hine (1874-1940) was an American sociologist and photographer, considered the father of documentary photography. He took his pictures in the USA, mainly in New York, in the first third of the 20th century.

He realized that “one picture is worth a thousand words” and used his camera as a tool for social reform, so much so that he finally managed to change some labour laws.

The exhibition, which consists of 60 original photos, can be divided into three collections or projects:

First Collection: Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island

At the beginning of the 20th century, New York was the most important city in the world, so many people from overseas left their countries pursuing the American Dream.

Ellis Island is next to the Statue of Liberty, where boats full of immigrants had to stop in order to control and test them before they were allowed to enter New York.

Some of the photos in this project are portraits: faces alone - their skin prematurely aged - as well as big families with all their humble belongings, who look nostalgic, penniless, sick and tired.

Second Collection: Child labour conditions

Children working in the street, selling newspapers, delivering packages, etc.

Children from Pittsburgh, some of them working in cotton mills, others in coal mines.

It’s very shocking that children look extremely tiny compared to the objects they manufacture, like newspapers, machines or suits.

Along with child labour, there are some photographs that show mothers and their children working in humble, dirty and untidy rooms in their own homes. Even the youngest child, who is no more than five years old, is working. In one particular photograph the family are assembling parts of plastic flowers while in another they are all sewing clothes. We must take into consideration that work at home was a low-paying job.

Third Collection: Men working in the Empire State Building

In these photographs Hine demonstrates his admiration for those strong young men who risked their lives working at hundreds of metres high. They were heroes, without whose effort the building, prosperity and growth of the USA wouldn’t have been possible.

This thrilling, moving and historical exhibition will be open until 27th April. It is a must!

On this video from the BBC you can see some of Lewis Hine’s photographs: The child labour photos that shamed America.

Thanks a lot, Rosa. A fantastic post to celebrate 3,500 hits of our blog! I couldn't remember Hine by his name but the moment you mentioned the iconic image of some Empire State workers (see below), I realised who you were talking about. Such inspiring black-and-white photos, aren't they? But hey, was it a photo during the building of the ES or the Rockefeller Centre, instead? And did Lewis Hines actually take that legendary shot?

The iconic "Lunch atop the the skyscraper". Was it just a publicity stunt?

It's only coincidence that a few months ago I happened to get into a bar in town near Cuesta Sancti Spiritus - whose name I fail to remember now - which featured this instantly recognizable snap as part of its lively decoration. I couldn't help staring at it for a few minutes while sipping a beer and I wondered what was the life story of those men in the photo. But yesterday, when I was looking for the image online, I unexpectedly came across an article of September 2012 appeared in the Daily Mail which might shock you all. It did to me indeed!