Past Exhibition

Picturing Puerto Rico under the American Flag:
The Photographs of Louise Rosskam, 1937–1948

May 11 – July 21, 2012

About

Picturing Puerto Rico under the American Flag:
The Photographs of Louise Rosskam, 1937–1948

May 11 – July 21, 2012

Curated by Laura Katzman, Associate Professor of Art History, James Madison University

This exhibition featured the work of Louise Rosskam (1910-2003), an elusive pioneer of the golden age of 20th century American documentary photography. With little concern for credit, Rosskam always insisted that it was the social purpose of her projects that were paramount, not the promotion of her career. The exhibition highlighted her most compelling and compassionate images — the photographs she created on the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in the New Deal and post-World War II eras.

Picturing Puerto Rico was the first exhibition to focus exclusively on Louise Rosskam’s work in Puerto Rico. It brought together 60 photographs drawn largely from the Library and Archives of Centro, Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, as well from the collection of Ani Rosskam and Susan Marchon, and a private collection in Washington, DC.

This exhibition was a collaboration with The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College.

Rosskam book: Re-Viewing DocumentaryThe Photographic Life of Louise Rosskam