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When We Liked Ike: Looking for Postwar America

When We Liked Ike: Looking for Postwar America

List Price: $35.00
Your Price: $35.00
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A middle class flashback.
Review: Barbara Norfleet concentrates on a rather under-appreciated aspect of American photography, the local commercial photo studio found in most towns across the country. This book is an extension of her first book `The Champion Pig', which examined studio photography from 1929 to 1960. `When We Liked Ike', with 170 excellent photos, covers the years from 1945. The author explains how these photos were taken to please those who commissioned them and they basically show the attitudes, values and aspirations of the white middle class. There are plenty of family gatherings and social events but also examples of outdoor commercial activity, the Florida studio of Joe Steinmetz produced excellent architectural work like the drive-in hamburger unit on page 126.

Nearly every photo is worth studying for the detail they contain, they are not blurred, grainy or gimmicky, this is a record of what the subject wanted (and paid for) not how the photographer felt about the subject. The only details provided about the images are the photographer's name and sometimes a date, this lack of information can be annoying at times, page eighty-seven shows a woman smoking a pipe, her head surrounded by smoke, just why did Jack Gould take this picture in 1946? Page thirty-three shows a (pin-sharp) photo of a traffic jam in Main Street, Somewhere USA, why was this moment captured for ever?

The book is well designed and printed though I think the cover design is unimaginative and the photo (two senior citizens in swimwear enjoying a smoke) rather inappropriate to sum up post-war America. As well as the fascinating `The Champion Pig', `Wedding' is another Barbara Norfleet book using work of the local studio photographer.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A middle class flashback.
Review: Barbara Norfleet concentrates on a rather under-appreciated aspect of American photography, the local commercial photo studio found in most towns across the country. This book is an extension of her first book 'The Champion Pig', which examined studio photography from 1929 to 1960. 'When We Liked Ike', with 170 excellent photos, covers the years from 1945. The author explains how these photos were taken to please those who commissioned them and they basically show the attitudes, values and aspirations of the white middle class. There are plenty of family gatherings and social events but also examples of outdoor commercial activity, the Florida studio of Joe Steinmetz produced excellent architectural work like the drive-in hamburger unit on page 126.

Nearly every photo is worth studying for the detail they contain, they are not blurred, grainy or gimmicky, this is a record of what the subject wanted (and paid for) not how the photographer felt about the subject. The only details provided about the images are the photographer's name and sometimes a date, this lack of information can be annoying at times, page eighty-seven shows a woman smoking a pipe, her head surrounded by smoke, just why did Jack Gould take this picture in 1946? Page thirty-three shows a (pin-sharp) photo of a traffic jam in Main Street, Somewhere USA, why was this moment captured for ever?

The book is well designed and printed though I think the cover design is unimaginative and the photo (two senior citizens in swimwear enjoying a smoke) rather inappropriate to sum up post-war America. As well as the fascinating 'The Champion Pig', 'Wedding' is another Barbara Norfleet book using work of the local studio photographer.


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