The following photograph exhibits are available for loan from the Briscoe Center. Please contact Lynn Bell for more information.
BREAKING OUT / BREAKING IN, The Photographs of Margaret Sandahl Thomas, 1967–1997:
In 1966, Margaret Thomas began her professional career as the first woman photographer hired by the the Washington Post. Her assignments have encompassed local, national, and international news, including Congress and the White House, anti-war demonstrations, the Reagan-Gorbachev Geneva Summit, Haiti during the aftermath of the Duvalier era, the repatriation of Haitian boat people, East and West Germany on the eve of reunification, Israel, Panama, and military women in Europe. Thomas also has focused on many aspects of everyday life in America, such as horse-raising in Virginia, convent life, Mardi Gras celebrations in Cajun Louisiana, and the impact of droughts on Midwestern family farms.
DIANA WALKER, Photojournalist:
As a White House photographer for TIME magazine, Walker’s photographs document key figures and events in American history during the 1970s through the 1990s. A veritable gallery of America’s leaders and visiting international luminaries, the exhibit present a wonderful mix of historic moments and informal interludes that offers unique insight into the White House and the people who lived and worked there.
Kings of the River: Steamboat Transportation in the American South:
Kings of the River showcases 33 images of historic riverboats by Henry Norman, a photographer who worked in Natchez, Mississippi from 1870 until his death in 1913. Norman’s camera documented daily life in the historic river port town of Natchez in the last decades of the 19th century when steamboats and cotton still dominated transportation and commerce. Henry Norman’s photographs provide a remarkable visual record of the great paddlewheel steamboats, including images of their crews, passengers, and luxurious interiors.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Remembered, Photographs by Flip Schulke:
Flip Schulke met and became a close friend of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. while on assignment for Ebony magazine in 1958. Their friendship enabled Schulke to document Dr. King and the civil rights movement for the next decade. Winner of the 1995 Kodak Crystal Eagle Award, Schulke was recognized for his "documentation of a vital social issue [which] has changed the way people live or what they believe."
Natchez on the Mississippi, Photographs by Henry Norman from the Tom and Joan Gandy Collection:
Natchez on the Mississippi showcases 116 images by Henry Norman, a photographer who worked in Natchez, Mississippi, from 1870 until his death in 1913. Norman’s camera documented daily life in the historic river port town of Natchez in the last decades of the19th century when steamboats and cotton still dominated transportation and commerce. His wide-ranging work includes images of the luxurious interiors of the great paddlewheel steamboats; studio portraits of African American families and Jewish merchants; photographs of Natchez street scenes, buildings, and plantation mansions; pictures of Natchez citizens observing official occasions and enjoying leisure time; and images of notorious Natchez-Under-the-Hill. Henry Norman’s photographs provide a remarkable visual record of the unique town of Natchez, Mississippi, from the Civil War through the Victorian era and into the 20th century.
STATE FAIR: A Top Photojournalists Odyssey Through Fairs in Ten States:
State Fair is a visual distillation of Arthur Graceʼs photographic odyssey through fairs in ten states—California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia. Time and again, regardless of geographic location, Graceʼs images deftly capture the strange mixture of the traditional, the kitsch, and the off-the-wall that is unique to these annual gatherings, which began as a celebration of rural American life and have evolved into super-sized extravaganzas.
Tierra y Su Gente, The Rio Grande Photographs of Robert Runyon, 1910–1926:
The exhibit is a sampling of the rich and diverse work of Brownsville photographer Robert Runyon (1881–1968) and a tribute to his unique photographic record of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. His images record life in Brownsville and Matamoros, agriculture and native plants, and the region’s development as part of the Valley land boom. Known as the finest studio photographer in Brownsville, Runyon photographed thousands of local residents at weddings, birthdays, baptisms, and family gatherings.
Many of Runyon’s most memorable and historically significant photographs, however, document the Mexican Revolution. He also photographed the United States’ response to the border turmoil, specifically the activation of Fort Brown and the transfer of soldiers from around the country to the Brownsville camp.