Appalachia
1962–1971
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 18.73 × 19.05 cm (7 3/8 × 7 1/2 in.) sheet: 20.32 × 25.4 cm (8 × 10 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of the Spile Family to all those who share their creative souls)
Accession Number
2015.19.5125
Art Historical Context
Milton Rogovin's *Appalachia* (1962–1971) is a poignant gelatin silver print from his acclaimed documentary series on the coal-mining communities of Appalachia.ured over nearly a decade, this 7 3/8 × 7 1/2 in. image exemplifies Rogovin's lifelong commitment to social realism, portraying the dignity and resilience of working-class families amid economic hardship and rural poverty in the American South. As a self-taught photographer blacklisted during the McCarthy era for his leftist activism, Rogovin turned his lens to overlooked lives, creating intimate portraits that humanize his subjects wit...
About the Artist
Milton Rogovin
Milton Rogovin (1909–2011), an American social documentary photographer, was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Lithuanian Jewish immigrant parents amid the hardships of the Great Depression, which profoundly shaped his lifelong commitment to illuminating the dignity of working-class people. After attending Stuyvesant High School, he earned a B.S. in optometry from Columbia University in 1931 and late...