Category: art

Vintage landscape: Chicago mural

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Vintage landscape:enclos*ure - Chicago mural, 1973, John H. White, via Natl. Archives“Deteriorated wall mural adjacent to a vacant lot on 35th Street in South Side Chicago. Many Black artists are active in painting outdoor murals in the city’s Black communities. They feel it is a means of sharing art with people of the ghetto who never go to the museums.”

This July 1973 photo was taken by John H. White for DOCUMERICA, a 1970’s photography program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  It’s shown here with the original caption.

The EPA hired over 100 photographers to “document subjects of environmental concern.”  The work continued until 1977 and left behind an archive of about 20,000 images.

In addition to recording damage to the nation’s landscapes, the project captured “the era’s trends, fashions, problems, and achievements,” according to the U.S. National Archives, which held an exhibit of the photos, “Searching for the Seventies,” in 2013. 

There are more pictures from DOCUMERICA here.

Life in gardens: Chicago

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Life in gardens/enclos*ure: Chicago, 1973, via National Archives“Black youngsters performing on an empty lot at 5440 South Princeton Avenue on Chicago’s South Side at a small community program called “an Open Air Fashion and Talent Show” presented by “the New Between The Tracks Council.” It is one of many block clubs and community groups organized to help youngsters “do their thing” during special weekend programs in empty lots in the black communities.”

Life in gardens/enclos*ure: Chicago, 1973, via National ArchivesThese photos* were taken August 1973 by John H. White for DOCUMERICA, a 1970s photography project of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They are shown here with their original caption.

A commenter on the flickr page noted: “Forty-one years later and it’s still an empty lot.”

There are more pictures from DOCUMERICA here.

*Via the U.S. National Archives Commons on flickr.

Vintage landscape: Los Angeles

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L.A. houses, DOCUMERICA, National Archives“Flowers planted around Spyglass homes built on a terraced hillside[, Los Angeles], May 1975.”

This photo was taken by Charles O’Rear for DOCUMERICA,  a 1970’s photography program of the Environmental Protection Agency.

There are more pictures from DOCUMERICA here.

Striped road

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Vintage landscape/enclos*ure: Big Strips, painting by G. Davis, 1973, via Natl. Archives“Crossing the painted road which extends east from The Philadelphia Museum of Art, August 1973,” by Dick Swanson, via the U.S. National Archives Commons on flickr.

This is another photo taken for DOCUMERICA, a 1970’s photography program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (shown here with original caption).

The road painting, “Big Stripes,” by Gene Davis, was created in 1972. At the time, it was the world’s largest painting.  Davis was a leader in the Washington [D.C.] Color School.

Does anyone know if any part of this painting survives today?

The Sunday porch: East Boston

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East Boston, c. 1973, via National ArchivesLaundry hanging from triple-decker porches in East Boston near Logan Airport, May 1973.

East Boston, c. 1973, via National Archives“From the rear porch of his home at the southern corner of Neptune and Lovell Streets, Larry Vienza watches jet take off from Runway 15r-33l. Once airborne, the jet will fly directly over his house, May 1973” (with photographer’s caption).

These photos* were taken by Michael Philip Manheim, for DOCUMERICA, a 1970’s photography project of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The East Boston neighborhood was devastated by the noise from Logan airport’s expansion in the 1960s and 70s. (See Friday’s post, “Neptune Road.”)

There are more pictures from DOCUMERICA here.

*Via the U.S. National Archives Commons on flickr.