Photographed by Scott Wolff. Captured from a digital file. Color corrected by Pat Cagney.

Images(2)

Photograph by Shannon Ruff, Canon EOS Mark II D digital slr-2007.

Unplanned, Scattered Houses, Roanoke, Virginia

Artist Peter Sekaer (American | Denmark, 1901-1950)

Dateca. 1936

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsOverall, Image: 13 x 16 7/8 in. (33 x 42.9 cm)
Overall, Support: 14 3/4 × 18 in. (37.5 × 45.7 cm)
Overall, Mat: 22 1/8 × 26 1/16 in. (56.2 × 66.2 cm)

ClassificationsPhotography

Credit LineGift of Howard Greenberg

Object number2003.2

Terms

House
Building
Virginia
Roanoke
Black
White

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is a vintage gelatin silver print of homes in Roanoke, Virginia. The houses are not built on a grid-based format and appeared scattered, however, the artist has composed the photograph to appear orderly. In the foreground, a narrow white path extends across the image. A two-story house centered in the foreground blows smoke from the chimney; in the background center a road cuts through the neighborhood and curves to the left. Mountains are seen in the far background.

Label TextPeter Sekaer American (b. Denmark 1901- d. New York, 1950) Unplanned, Scattered Houses, Roanoke, Virginia, ca. 1936 Gelatin-silver print Gift of Howard Greenberg 2003.2 ~ Sekaer's photographs capture the essence of what it was like to live in America during The Great Depression. Under Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, Sekaer worked for the Rural Electrification Administration, where he was occasionally "loaned out" to other governmental agencies such as the U.S. Housing Authority and the Office of Indian Affairs. Under the legendary Roy Stryker, he also worked briefly for the Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information. Sekaer studied photography at the New School for Social Research with Berenice Abbott. Prior to that he learned painting at the Art Students' League. Among his teachers were Georg Grosz and Hans Hofmann. His fellow students included the painter and photographer Ben Shahn, who at that time shared a studio with Walker Evans. In 1935 and 1936, Sekaer and Evans made a 4,000-mile trip through the South, frequently photographing side by side.