Photojournalists

From world capitals to small towns and in between, photojournalists since the beginnings of photography in the 19th century have visually provided information, inspiration, entertainment, and—above all—timely and meaningful news. In 1862, Alexander Gardner (1821–1882) photographed the dead horse of a Confederate colonel during the American Civil War. A century later, Gordon Parks (1912–2006) depicted, close up, the sweat-covered face of prizefighter Muhammad Ali. And in 1994, Mary Ellen Mark (1940–2015) photographed Ku Klux Klan members as, in darkness, they raised a wooden cross before burning it. Photojournalists, John Szarkowski of the Museum of Modern Art wrote, “give us the look and the smell of events that we did not witness” (1999, p. 142). The content of these images, historian Michael Carlebach has said, is ...