Fields of Vision: The Photographs of Esther Bubley The Library of Congress
Introduction by Melissa Fay Greene. Series statement by W. Ralph Eubanks. Series editor Amy Pastan
Published by GILES in association with the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.
Published — April 2010 (UK and USA)
Dimensions — 64 pages, 180 x 180 mm (7 1/8 x 7 1/8 in.)
Illustrations — 50 colour illustrations
Format — Paperback
ISBN — 978-1-904832-48-5
Book Details (pdf) — FOV2-AI-LR.pdf
Press Release — Fields of Vision: evocative images of a vanished...
Sales Points
“Unlike some of her better-known colleagues under the direction of Roy Stryker, Ms. Bubley seemed not to have had a political point of view. Instead, her photos recorded meaningful personal encounters. They are striking for their authenticity — and for their focus on women.” James Estrin, New York Times Lens blog
“I have found the human race. It is like finding one’s family at last.” Esther Bubley
“The images of Esther Bubley have a unique style of capturing a spot of light on the single figure in the frame” Elizabeth Powis, Apogee Photo Magazine
“Bubley’s discreet, delightfully perceptive imagery is worth celebrating.” Benjamin Ivry, Forward.com
“Esther Bubley chewed up the instruction manual and spat it out. She remained untamed, creative, surprising, and funny to the end, a genius in black-and-white.” Melissa Fay Greene in the introduction to Fields of Vision: The Photographs of Esther Bubley
About the Book
Providing a unique view of American life during the Great Depression and Second World War, each Fields of Vision volume includes an introduction to the life of a Farm Security Administration (FSA) and Office of War Information (OWI) photographer with 50 evocative images selected from their work in the Library of Congress's collection. Transporting the viewer to American homes, farms, and streets of the 1930s and 1940s, they offer a glimpse of a new narrative and intimate style that defined America.
Esther Bubley was born in Wisconsin in 1921 to Russian Jewish immigrants. Hired as a darkroom assistant at the OWI in 1942, she soon became a field photographer, recording US wartime life from a greyhound bus. After the war Bubley worked for Life, Ladies' Home Journal, Look, McCall's and Harper's Bazaar, reporting from Europe, Central and South America, North Africa, Australia and the Philippines. She died in 1998.
