Photography

Leica 35mm Camera

The millions of photographs in the Museum's collections compose a vast mosaic of the nation's history. Photographs accompany most artifact collections. Thousands of images document engineering projects, for example, and more record the steel, petroleum, and railroad industries.

Some 150,000 images capture the history, art, and science of photography. Nineteenth-century photography, from its initial development by W. H. F. Talbot and Louis Daguerre, is especially well represented and includes cased images, paper photographs, and apparatus. Glass stereographs and news-service negatives by the Underwood & Underwood firm document life in America between the 1890s and the 1930s. The history of amateur photography and photojournalism are preserved here, along with the work of 20th-century masters such as Richard Avedon and Edward Weston. Thousands of cameras and other equipment represent the technical and business side of the field.

Date: 1960s

Alejandro Jodorowsky, director of EL TOPO, stopped by Taos to visit Dennis Hopper

With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture.
Description
With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture. She recorded this unconventional time of Anti-War demonstrations in California, communes, Love-Ins, peace marches and concerts, as well as her family life as she became a wife and mother. The photographs were collected by William Yeingst and Shannon Perich in a cross-unit collecting collaboration. Together they selected over two hundred photographs relevant to photographic history, cultural history, domestic life and social history.
Law’s portraiture and concert photographs include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Lovin Spoonful and Peter, Paul and Mary. She also took several of Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, including the photograph used to create the poster included in the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum’s exhibition 1001 Days and Nights in American Art. Law and other members of the Hog Farm were involved in the logistics of setting up the well-known musical extravaganza, Woodstock. Her photographs include the teepee poles going into the hold of the plane, a few concert scenes and amenities like the kitchen and medical tent. Other photographs include peace rallies and concerts in Haight-Ashbury, Coretta Scott King speaking at an Anti-War protest and portraits of Allen Ginsburg and Timothy Leary. From her life in New Mexico the photographs include yoga sessions with Yogi Bhajan, bus races, parades and other public events. From life on the New Buffalo Commune, there are many pictures of her family and friends taken during meal preparation and eating, farming, building, playing, giving birth and caring for children.
Ms. Law did not realize how important her photographs were while she was taking them. It was not until after she divorced her husband, left the farm for Santa Fe and began a career as a photographer that she realized the depth of history she recorded. Today, she spends her time writing books, showing her photographs in museums all over the United States and making documentaries. In 1990, her video documentary, “Flashing on the Sixties,” won several awards.
A selection of photographs was featured in the exhibition A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law, 1964–1971, at the National Museum of American History October 1998-April 1999.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1969
date printed
1998
maker
Law, Lisa
ID Number
1998.0139.196
catalog number
1998.0139.196
accession number
1998.0139

White building with painted diamond motif

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1960s
photographer
Uzzle, Burk
ID Number
PG.72.12.043
accession number
2003.0044
catalog number
72.12.43

Traffic Light and Telephone Lines

Silver print of an untitled Ray K. Metzker photograph showing a traffic light and telephone lines.In the collection of the National Museum of American History there are twelve photographic works by the American photographer Ray K. Metzker (1931).
Description (Brief)
Silver print of an untitled Ray K. Metzker photograph showing a traffic light and telephone lines.
Description
In the collection of the National Museum of American History there are twelve photographic works by the American photographer Ray K. Metzker (1931). These pieces by Metzker were acquired by the Smithsonian in 1970 after they were on display in the “Persistence of Vision” exhibition at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Metzker’s photographs range from depictions of urban street scenes to abstraction, and vary in size from 8x10 inch prints to 30x32 inch assembled pieces of over one hundred individual photographs.
After working as an assistant for various portrait and commercial photography studios, Metzker enrolled as a student at the Illinois Institute of Design in 1956. Founded by former Bauhaus instructor Laszlo Moholy-Nagy in 1937, the Illinois Institute of Design’s faculty included influential photographers such as Harry Callahan (see catalog numbers PG69.40.01-10), Aaron Siskind (see catalog numbers PG69.114.01-10), and Frederick Sommer. Metzker has often cited these instructors as having a great impact on his artistic outlook and passion for photography. In a 1983 conversation with curator Anne Tucker, Metzker said, “their experience and dedication is something you had to respect, and they communicated to me how really beautiful and of what great meaning a photograph or photography could be. They made photography a noble endeavor.” While at the Illinois Institute of Design, Metzker became fascinated with the urban environment of Chicago, which became the subject matter for most of his early photographs. After graduation, Metzker’s experimental methods were noticed by curators and included in exhibitions such as the “Persistence of Vision,” where he was included with fellow graduates such as photographer John Wood.
Metzker’s work utilizes the technical components of the medium of photography to create new and unique imagery. Instead of using the camera to create a traditional single frame photograph, Metzker has been known to use an entire roll of film to create one composite image. This is seen in his photograph Untitled Composite Print (Signs, Trucks, etc.), PG69.205.1. In this example, Metzker photographs a series of actions instead of a singular event. Metzker offers the viewer information about a specific location over a span of time while simultaneously abstracting the image by overlapping the individual film frames. Another demonstration of this time-based aspect of Metzker’s work is Untitled (Four Frames and a Film Strip) PG69.205.4, where various pedestrians are seen passing through the same environment throughout the day. Created in 1964, this photograph breaks the traditional rectangular format entirely with multiple frames printed on top of each other and the orientation of the print skewed to create a diagonal composition.
Metzker constantly tries to invent new ways to investigate the formal aspects of photography. This has led him to experiment with multiple camera formats and a variety of different printing methods. He has been known to spend extensive time in the darkroom, experimenting with processes that may never lead to a complete finished project. Even when Metzker depicts more conventional subject matter, such as a figure or cityscape, he eliminates information in the photograph to focus on light and shadow, line and form. An example of this is his 1963 photograph Untitled (Stripe on Pavement) PG69.205.2. Metzker photographs a segment of a city crosswalk, but through perspective and composition, creates an image that more closely resembles an abstract gestural mark than a typical city scene.
Metzker is an important figure to study in regards to evaluating the influence that Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s Illinois Institute of Design had on the genre of American street photography in the 1960s. The Bauhaus tradition of experimentation can be seen throughout much of Metzker’s work. For Metzker, photography is a process that involves multiple steps before the final image is created.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965
maker
Metzker, Ray K.
ID Number
PG.69.205.07
catalog number
69.205.7
accession number
288848

Building the communal house at New Buffalo Commune. Arroyo Hondo, NM. August 1967

With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture.
Description
With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture. She recorded this unconventional time of Anti-War demonstrations in California, communes, Love-Ins, peace marches and concerts, as well as her family life as she became a wife and mother. The photographs were collected by William Yeingst and Shannon Perich in a cross-unit collecting collaboration. Together they selected over two hundred photographs relevant to photographic history, cultural history, domestic life and social history.
Law’s portraiture and concert photographs include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Lovin Spoonful and Peter, Paul and Mary. She also took several of Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, including the photograph used to create the poster included in the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum’s exhibition 1001 Days and Nights in American Art. Law and other members of the Hog Farm were involved in the logistics of setting up the well-known musical extravaganza, Woodstock. Her photographs include the teepee poles going into the hold of the plane, a few concert scenes and amenities like the kitchen and medical tent. Other photographs include peace rallies and concerts in Haight-Ashbury, Coretta Scott King speaking at an Anti-War protest and portraits of Allen Ginsburg and Timothy Leary. From her life in New Mexico the photographs include yoga sessions with Yogi Bhajan, bus races, parades and other public events. From life on the New Buffalo Commune, there are many pictures of her family and friends taken during meal preparation and eating, farming, building, playing, giving birth and caring for children.
Ms. Law did not realize how important her photographs were while she was taking them. It was not until after she divorced her husband, left the farm for Santa Fe and began a career as a photographer that she realized the depth of history she recorded. Today, she spends her time writing books, showing her photographs in museums all over the United States and making documentaries. In 1990, her video documentary, “Flashing on the Sixties,” won several awards.
A selection of photographs was featured in the exhibition A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law, 1964–1971, at the National Museum of American History October 1998-April 1999.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1967
date printed
1998
maker
Law, Lisa
ID Number
1998.0139.087
catalog number
1998.0139.087
accession number
1998.0139

Bob Dylan's Desk at the Castle

With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture.
Description
With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture. She recorded this unconventional time of Anti-War demonstrations in California, communes, Love-Ins, peace marches and concerts, as well as her family life as she became a wife and mother. The photographs were collected by William Yeingst and Shannon Perich in a cross-unit collecting collaboration. Together they selected over two hundred photographs relevant to photographic history, cultural history, domestic life and social history.
Law’s portraiture and concert photographs include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Lovin Spoonful and Peter, Paul and Mary. She also took several of Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, including the photograph used to create the poster included in the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum’s exhibition 1001 Days and Nights in American Art. Law and other members of the Hog Farm were involved in the logistics of setting up the well-known musical extravaganza, Woodstock. Her photographs include the teepee poles going into the hold of the plane, a few concert scenes and amenities like the kitchen and medical tent. Other photographs include peace rallies and concerts in Haight-Ashbury, Coretta Scott King speaking at an Anti-War protest and portraits of Allen Ginsburg and Timothy Leary. From her life in New Mexico the photographs include yoga sessions with Yogi Bhajan, bus races, parades and other public events. From life on the New Buffalo Commune, there are many pictures of her family and friends taken during meal preparation and eating, farming, building, playing, giving birth and caring for children.
Ms. Law did not realize how important her photographs were while she was taking them. It was not until after she divorced her husband, left the farm for Santa Fe and began a career as a photographer that she realized the depth of history she recorded. Today, she spends her time writing books, showing her photographs in museums all over the United States and making documentaries. In 1990, her video documentary, “Flashing on the Sixties,” won several awards.
A selection of photographs was featured in the exhibition A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law, 1964–1971, at the National Museum of American History October 1998-April 1999.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966
user
Dylan, Bob
maker
Law, Lisa Bachelis
ID Number
1998.0139.023
accession number
1998.0139
catalog number
1998.0139.23

Man Walking with his Shadow

Silver print of an untitled Ray K. Metzker photograph showing a man walking with his shadow reflected beneath him.In the collection of the National Museum of American History there are twelve photographic works by the American photographer Ray K. Metzker (1931).
Description (Brief)
Silver print of an untitled Ray K. Metzker photograph showing a man walking with his shadow reflected beneath him.
Description
In the collection of the National Museum of American History there are twelve photographic works by the American photographer Ray K. Metzker (1931). These pieces by Metzker were acquired by the Smithsonian in 1970 after they were on display in the “Persistence of Vision” exhibition at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Metzker’s photographs range from depictions of urban street scenes to abstraction, and vary in size from 8x10 inch prints to 30x32 inch assembled pieces of over one hundred individual photographs.
After working as an assistant for various portrait and commercial photography studios, Metzker enrolled as a student at the Illinois Institute of Design in 1956. Founded by former Bauhaus instructor Laszlo Moholy-Nagy in 1937, the Illinois Institute of Design’s faculty included influential photographers such as Harry Callahan (see catalog numbers PG69.40.01-10), Aaron Siskind (see catalog numbers PG69.114.01-10), and Frederick Sommer. Metzker has often cited these instructors as having a great impact on his artistic outlook and passion for photography. In a 1983 conversation with curator Anne Tucker, Metzker said, “their experience and dedication is something you had to respect, and they communicated to me how really beautiful and of what great meaning a photograph or photography could be. They made photography a noble endeavor.” While at the Illinois Institute of Design, Metzker became fascinated with the urban environment of Chicago, which became the subject matter for most of his early photographs. After graduation, Metzker’s experimental methods were noticed by curators and included in exhibitions such as the “Persistence of Vision,” where he was included with fellow graduates such as photographer John Wood.
Metzker’s work utilizes the technical components of the medium of photography to create new and unique imagery. Instead of using the camera to create a traditional single frame photograph, Metzker has been known to use an entire roll of film to create one composite image. This is seen in his photograph Untitled Composite Print (Signs, Trucks, etc.), PG69.205.1. In this example, Metzker photographs a series of actions instead of a singular event. Metzker offers the viewer information about a specific location over a span of time while simultaneously abstracting the image by overlapping the individual film frames. Another demonstration of this time-based aspect of Metzker’s work is Untitled (Four Frames and a Film Strip) PG69.205.4, where various pedestrians are seen passing through the same environment throughout the day. Created in 1964, this photograph breaks the traditional rectangular format entirely with multiple frames printed on top of each other and the orientation of the print skewed to create a diagonal composition.
Metzker constantly tries to invent new ways to investigate the formal aspects of photography. This has led him to experiment with multiple camera formats and a variety of different printing methods. He has been known to spend extensive time in the darkroom, experimenting with processes that may never lead to a complete finished project. Even when Metzker depicts more conventional subject matter, such as a figure or cityscape, he eliminates information in the photograph to focus on light and shadow, line and form. An example of this is his 1963 photograph Untitled (Stripe on Pavement) PG69.205.2. Metzker photographs a segment of a city crosswalk, but through perspective and composition, creates an image that more closely resembles an abstract gestural mark than a typical city scene.
Metzker is an important figure to study in regards to evaluating the influence that Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s Illinois Institute of Design had on the genre of American street photography in the 1960s. The Bauhaus tradition of experimentation can be seen throughout much of Metzker’s work. For Metzker, photography is a process that involves multiple steps before the final image is created.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1964
maker
Metzker, Ray K.
ID Number
PG.69.205.08
catalog number
69.205.8
accession number
288848

Haight Ashbury, Golden Gate Park Panhandle during a typical weekend musical gathering. San Francisco, CA, 1967

With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture.
Description
With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture. She recorded this unconventional time of Anti-War demonstrations in California, communes, Love-Ins, peace marches and concerts, as well as her family life as she became a wife and mother. The photographs were collected by William Yeingst and Shannon Perich in a cross-unit collecting collaboration. Together they selected over two hundred photographs relevant to photographic history, cultural history, domestic life and social history.
Law’s portraiture and concert photographs include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Lovin Spoonful and Peter, Paul and Mary. She also took several of Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, including the photograph used to create the poster included in the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum’s exhibition 1001 Days and Nights in American Art. Law and other members of the Hog Farm were involved in the logistics of setting up the well-known musical extravaganza, Woodstock. Her photographs include the teepee poles going into the hold of the plane, a few concert scenes and amenities like the kitchen and medical tent. Other photographs include peace rallies and concerts in Haight-Ashbury, Coretta Scott King speaking at an Anti-War protest and portraits of Allen Ginsburg and Timothy Leary. From her life in New Mexico the photographs include yoga sessions with Yogi Bhajan, bus races, parades and other public events. From life on the New Buffalo Commune, there are many pictures of her family and friends taken during meal preparation and eating, farming, building, playing, giving birth and caring for children.
Ms. Law did not realize how important her photographs were while she was taking them. It was not until after she divorced her husband, left the farm for Santa Fe and began a career as a photographer that she realized the depth of history she recorded. Today, she spends her time writing books, showing her photographs in museums all over the United States and making documentaries. In 1990, her video documentary, “Flashing on the Sixties,” won several awards.
A selection of photographs was featured in the exhibition A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law, 1964–1971, at the National Museum of American History October 1998-April 1999.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1967
date printed
1998
maker
Law, Lisa
ID Number
1998.0139.040
catalog number
1998.0139.040
accession number
1998.0139

Bob Dylan

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1963
maker
Avedon, Richard
ID Number
PG.67.102.030N

Bad Trouble over the Weekend

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1964
maker
Lange, Dorothea
ID Number
PG.71.64.14
accession number
2003.0160

Monolith--The face of Half-Dome

Silver gelatin, mounted. Monolith with smaller snow covered rock formations around it. Signed, ink (recto: bottom right). Verso: Adams stamp with handwritten title, ink top center.
Description (Brief)
Silver gelatin, mounted. Monolith with smaller snow covered rock formations around it. Signed, ink (recto: bottom right). Verso: Adams stamp with handwritten title, ink top center. Second stamp "Portfolio Three (Yosemite Valley) Ansel Adams Special Print Published by The Sierra Club San Francisco 1959 Reproduction Rights Preserved" Stamp.
Description
“I saw the photograph as a brooding form, with deep shadows and a distant sharp white peak against a dark sky,” Adams wrote of the scene before him on April 17, 1927, when, on a hike with his future wife Virginia, he took this iconic image (“Examples,” p.3). It was early in the photographer’s career, and because of the expense and bulk of his photographic plates, he only took a few with him for the hike in Yosemite. Still, what he lacked in material, Adams made up for in technique. He later recalled that “this photograph represents my first conscious visualization; in my mind’s eye I saw (with reasonable completeness) the final image as made,” and counted the actualization of this image in a successful print one of the most exciting moments of his career (“Examples,” p.5).
Ansel Adams (1902-1984) is one of the most well-known twentieth century photographers. His contributions to the field of photography include his innovation and teaching of the Zone System. The quality of his photographs set the standard by which many straight photographs are judged.
The collection in the Photographic History Collection consists of twenty-five photographs, all printed in or about 1968. All are gelatin silver, mounted, labeled and signed in ink by the photographer. The photographs include some of his most well-known images, but also portraits and objects. The selection of images was made in collaboration between the collecting curator and Adams.
Location
Currently not on view
negative made
1923
print made
1968
maker
Adams, Ansel
ID Number
PG.69.117.17
accession number
282104
catalog number
69.117.17

Person looking through barred window

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1969
maker
Harbutt, Charles
ID Number
PG.72.14.059

There is Nothing like a Lark, Jeanie Svarvar

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968
maker
Powers, Mark James
ID Number
2013.0222.34
catalog number
2013.0222.34
accession number
2013.0222

Platinum Black Test Strip

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966
maker
Snyder, Joel
ID Number
PG.68.14.05
catalog number
68.14.5

Henry Geldzhaler

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965
maker
Avedon, Richard
ID Number
PG.67.102.019N

Barren trees and shrubs

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966
maker
Snyder, Joel
ID Number
PG.68.14.03
catalog number
68.14.3

Carolyn Anspacher

Silver gelatin, mounted. Three-quarter head shot, woman with dark hair pulled back. Looking to the left. Woman not smiling. Can see pores and fine hairs on her face. Signed, ink (recto: bottom right).
Description (Brief)
Silver gelatin, mounted. Three-quarter head shot, woman with dark hair pulled back. Looking to the left. Woman not smiling. Can see pores and fine hairs on her face. Signed, ink (recto: bottom right). Verso: Adams stamp, title handwritten.
Description
This photograph is unusual for two aspects not usually found in Adams’ most popular works – a human subject and artificial light. Carolyn Anspacher was an actress and journalist, as well as a lifelong friend of Ansel and Virginia Adams; Ansel’s inspiration for this portrait was not the idea of taking a candid snapshot of a friend, however. Adams wrote that the rigid, classical portrait was called “The Great Stone Face” by some, but that he “had a strong conviction that the most effective photographic portrait is one that reveals the basic character of the subject in a state of repose, when the configurations of the face suggest identity and personality” (“Examples,” p.37). The photographer’s satisfaction with this portrait led him to take several similar portraits throughout the 30s.
Ansel Adams (1902-1984) is one of the most well-known twentieth century photographers. His contributions to the field of photography include his innovation and teaching of the Zone System. The quality of his photographs set the standard by which many straight photographs are judged.
The collection in the Photographic History Collection consists of twenty-five photographs, all printed in or about 1968. All are gelatin silver, mounted, labeled and signed in ink by the photographer. The photographs include some of his most well-known images, but also portraits and objects. The selection of images was made in collaboration between the collecting curator and Adams.
negative made
ca 1932
print made
1968
maker
Adams, Ansel
ID Number
PG.69.117.20
accession number
282104
catalog number
69.117.20

Alvin Dewey, Character, in the film, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960
ID Number
PG.67.102.037N

Cardboard cutout of naked woman

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1960s
photographer
Uzzle, Burk
ID Number
PG.72.12.061
accession number
2003.0044
catalog number
72.12.61

Victor Maymudes, Bob Dylan's road manager, with burnt baby mandala representing dead babies in Vietnam. Monterey Pop Festival. June 1967

With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture.
Description
With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture. She recorded this unconventional time of Anti-War demonstrations in California, communes, Love-Ins, peace marches and concerts, as well as her family life as she became a wife and mother. The photographs were collected by William Yeingst and Shannon Perich in a cross-unit collecting collaboration. Together they selected over two hundred photographs relevant to photographic history, cultural history, domestic life and social history.
Law’s portraiture and concert photographs include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Lovin Spoonful and Peter, Paul and Mary. She also took several of Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, including the photograph used to create the poster included in the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum’s exhibition 1001 Days and Nights in American Art. Law and other members of the Hog Farm were involved in the logistics of setting up the well-known musical extravaganza, Woodstock. Her photographs include the teepee poles going into the hold of the plane, a few concert scenes and amenities like the kitchen and medical tent. Other photographs include peace rallies and concerts in Haight-Ashbury, Coretta Scott King speaking at an Anti-War protest and portraits of Allen Ginsburg and Timothy Leary. From her life in New Mexico the photographs include yoga sessions with Yogi Bhajan, bus races, parades and other public events. From life on the New Buffalo Commune, there are many pictures of her family and friends taken during meal preparation and eating, farming, building, playing, giving birth and caring for children.
Ms. Law did not realize how important her photographs were while she was taking them. It was not until after she divorced her husband, left the farm for Santa Fe and began a career as a photographer that she realized the depth of history she recorded. Today, she spends her time writing books, showing her photographs in museums all over the United States and making documentaries. In 1990, her video documentary, “Flashing on the Sixties,” won several awards.
A selection of photographs was featured in the exhibition A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law, 1964–1971, at the National Museum of American History October 1998-April 1999.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1967
date printed
1998
maker
Law, Lisa
ID Number
1998.0139.073
catalog number
1998.0139.073
accession number
1998.0139

Kiev

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1963
ID Number
PG.69.165.46
accession number
287545
catalog number
69.165.46

Billboard of a baby

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1960s
photographer
Uzzle, Burk
ID Number
PG.72.12.087
accession number
2003.0044
catalog number
72.12.87

Untitled composite print by Ray Metzker

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965
maker
Metzker, Ray K.
ID Number
PG.69.0205.01
catalog number
69.205.1
accession number
288848

Grassy area with palm trees

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1960s
photographer
Uzzle, Burk
ID Number
PG.72.12.025
accession number
2003.0044
catalog number
72.12.25

New Buffalo Commune making adobe bricks for main structure. Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico, outside of Taos. 1967

With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture.
Description
With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture. She recorded this unconventional time of Anti-War demonstrations in California, communes, Love-Ins, peace marches and concerts, as well as her family life as she became a wife and mother. The photographs were collected by William Yeingst and Shannon Perich in a cross-unit collecting collaboration. Together they selected over two hundred photographs relevant to photographic history, cultural history, domestic life and social history.
Law’s portraiture and concert photographs include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Lovin Spoonful and Peter, Paul and Mary. She also took several of Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, including the photograph used to create the poster included in the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum’s exhibition 1001 Days and Nights in American Art. Law and other members of the Hog Farm were involved in the logistics of setting up the well-known musical extravaganza, Woodstock. Her photographs include the teepee poles going into the hold of the plane, a few concert scenes and amenities like the kitchen and medical tent. Other photographs include peace rallies and concerts in Haight-Ashbury, Coretta Scott King speaking at an Anti-War protest and portraits of Allen Ginsburg and Timothy Leary. From her life in New Mexico the photographs include yoga sessions with Yogi Bhajan, bus races, parades and other public events. From life on the New Buffalo Commune, there are many pictures of her family and friends taken during meal preparation and eating, farming, building, playing, giving birth and caring for children.
Ms. Law did not realize how important her photographs were while she was taking them. It was not until after she divorced her husband, left the farm for Santa Fe and began a career as a photographer that she realized the depth of history she recorded. Today, she spends her time writing books, showing her photographs in museums all over the United States and making documentaries. In 1990, her video documentary, “Flashing on the Sixties,” won several awards.
A selection of photographs was featured in the exhibition A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law, 1964–1971, at the National Museum of American History October 1998-April 1999.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1967
date printed
1998
maker
Law, Lisa
ID Number
1998.0139.079
catalog number
1998.0139.079
accession number
1998.0139

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