Folk Photography: The American Real-Photo Postcard, 1905-1930

(Paperback)

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A penetrating analysis of the real-photo postcard phenomenon of the early 1900s. These cards depict the now vanished world of small-town America, but also represent a pivotal stage in the evolution of photography. Their head-on style inherits something of the plain aesthetic of the Civil War photographers, while anticipating the great 1930s documentary artists such as Walker Evans. Fusing his skills as a chronicler of early 20th-century America, a historian of photography and a keen critic, Sante shows how these postcards offer a revealing 'self-portrait of the American nation'.

Author Bio

Luc Sante's books include Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York, Evidence, The Factory of Facts, and Kill All Your Darlings: Pieces 1990-2005. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books and has written about books, movies, art, photography, and music for many other periodicals. Sante has received a Whiting Writer's Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Grammy (for album notes). He lives in Ulster County, New York, and teaches photography at Bard College.