Roché
Rabie
Lewis Hine
Social Commentary Photography
Emotional Response
The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this image was my grandmother, as over the summer I had helped sort out and go through her old pictures for her birthday party. Although the pictures were not as old as Hines they still had the same old and rustic quality.
There are many differences between my generation and the generation of my grandparents and Lewis Hine however all of us still grow up waiting for the day we will be older so that we can "start life" and work in our dream jobs. By capturing this moment Hine is showing a different perspective to growing up were one is longing to be a child so that they do not have to be an "adult".
Memory or Experience
This piece reminds me of looking through all my families old pictures as one is able to see a single moment that was captured. Looking at pictures of my family members as children made me feel very distant from them as they looked like completely different people than the ones that were sitting in front of me. The factory reminds me of pictures my grandfather showed me of the mine when it was first build and seeing parts of it when I went with him and realising how much times and technology had changed.
The image on the left was taken in November 1908. Hine captioned the photograph "The Mill: A moment's glimpse of the outer world. Said she was 11 years old. Been working over a year. Rhodes Mfg. Co. Lincolnton, North Carolina."
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Introduction
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This photograph is one of the hundreds that Hine took of child laborers around the USA. The photograph was developed used gelatin silver print. The measurement of the image is unknown.
I decided to analyse Lewis Hines work as it provides a raw view to what the social ills of the early 20th century. His pieces told the stories of many children working in various industries around America. His work was used as evidence in the social reform to end child labour in America. This piece inspired me to explore the advances in photography and even technology of different industries as now many of the jobs the children were doing in the 1900's, machines are doing now.
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Visual Response
My first reaction to this work was wonder. This is because the girl seemed to be looking at a far off place and forgetting the work she had to complete behind her. It looked like she was longing to have a childhood and not a career.
Hines use of perspective makes the room look larger and the the focussing makes the girls image even bolder and clearer. The over exposure on the right side of the image draws the focus to the girl, however the areas of focus on the mill draw some attention back to the right side and make ones eyes go down to the end of the corridor.
The Artist
Lewis Wickes Hine was an American photographer and sociologist born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on September 26, 1874. After his father died, Hine began working to save money for a college education. After studying sociology at University of Chicago, Columbia University and New York University, he became a teacher and often used photography in his classes. He began documentary photography in 1907 when he began working for the Russell Sage Foundation, more specifically for The Pittsburg Survey.
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In 1908 he decided to leave his teaching position and became a full time photographer for the National Child Labour Committee. At this time, there were no strong laws preventing child labour, however the factories that used child as workers tried to hide it from the public for the fear of the downfall of their industry.
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Hine worked for the Red Cross during and after WWI and again during the Great Depression. While the Empire State Building was under construction in the 1930's to show humans contributions to modern industry. He was also the chief photographer for Works Progress Administration National Research Project and a faculty member of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School.
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In 1936, Hine was selected as the photographer for the National Research Project of the Works Projects Administration, however he was not able to finish his work there
"If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera."
- Lewis Wickes Hine
Ideas & Intentions
In this painting I believe that Hine is trying to express the loss that the child laborers must have felt as they were ribbed of their childhood and were not able tot attended school or play outside like many of their other friends. He tried to show people what many industries were trying to hide and keep under wraps. Not only does child labour rob children of their rights, but of their childhood experiences. By showing this to the audience Hine evoked deep and powerful emotions as someones childhood is seen to be the carefree and fun times in ones life before the stress of the working world would bring one down.
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Formal Elements
Subject Matter
The focal point of this piece is the girl staring out of the window. Hine draws attention to the girl by creating a vanishing point in the image. This draws ones attention to the wider areas of the image, which is where the girl is standing.
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Composition
Hines photograph uses one point perspective. Making the hall look larger and emptier than it would feel in real life. After focussing on the girl, ones eyes are drawn to the loom behind her, making you aware that she is working in a factory.
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Mood/Atmosphere/ Environment
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Melancholic
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Wistful
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Evokes sense of longing
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Innocence
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Loneliness
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Loss
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Pain
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Solitariness
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Materials/Techniques/ Processes
Hine developed this picture using gelatin silver. In the process a suspension of silver salts in gelatin is coated onto a support such as glass, flexible plastic or film, baryta paper, or resin-coated paper. These light-sensitive materials are stable under normal keeping conditions and are able to be exposed and processed even many years after their manufacture. This is in contrast to the collodion wet-plate process dominant from the 1850s–1880s, which had to be exposed and developed immediately after coating.
​Colour
The color of this image would have been black and white, however after time and exposure to sunlight the color has become lighter. A news agaency took some of Hines images and created colorised versions of them. See below
Concluding Response
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I decided to look at this piece as it was thought provoking and unique. While analyzing this piece I realized that it was not what I thought it was at first glance. The piece displayed the brutal truth about child labour and how it affected the children's emotional states and their lives. These children were ripped away from their childhoods and forced to grow up and mature into working adults.
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By using one point perspective in the photograph, Hine provokes emotions of loneliness, solitude and melancholy. Although this is not necessarily the emotions I would like to provoke in my piece, it interests me how he used one point perspective to create these emotions. What makes these pieces unique to me is that Hine did not only take pictures of children, he also interviewed them to understand what their lives were like and used those notes as titles for his paintings. By doing this the audience had a deeper connection with the people in the photograph making the issue of child labour seem more real and compelling people to make a change.
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Lewis Hines work has inspired me to make a a series of paintings to show the evolution of labour (manual to automated), photography (black and white to color photography) and a person life. I would like to use pictures of my grandmother as there are many picture of her in various stages of her life.