Free to Love

Successful struggle/

Means battles abound for the/

“Complete feminist.” 

Crystal Eastman (1881-1928). 

About Face

Seditious aesthete/
Editing for “The Masses”/
Then refutation. 

Max Eastman (1883-1969), by Van Vechten, 1934.

"Radicals" Week Begins

The matriarch of/

Modern anarchy and the/

Unpopular cause. 

 Emma Goldman (1869-1940), by Van Vechten, 1934.

 

Framing the Self

What is revealed when/
The subject is “self” is an/
Illusory grasp. 

Van Vechten (1880-1964), by Van Vechten, 1934.

 

Images à la Sauvette

Stinging perception/
Of the decisive moment/
Still leaves one breathless. 

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), by Van Vechten, 1935.

Aesthetics and Innovation

This avant-gardist/

Master of the “rayograph”/

Now duly honored. 

Man Ray (1890-1976), by Van Vechten, 1934.

Rayograph, 1923.

Glass Tears, 1933.

Solarization, 1929.

 

Documenting the World

Her artist’s lens showed/

That she had “seen their faces”/

It made us see, too. 

Plainfield High School graduate Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971), 

by Van Vechten, 1938.

Memento Mori: Capturing Photographers Week

Her life’s simile/
“Like a duck to water” her/
Chosen lens of truth. 

Photographer Berenice Abbott (1898-1991), by Van Vechten, 1938.

 

"The Night View," 1936.  Photo by Berenice Abbott.