Looking For The Light: The Hidden Life and Art of Marion Post Wolcott [Hardcover]

Paul Hendrickson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 1992

A celebration of the life and work of the twentieth-century photographer discusses her studies in Europe, her free-lance career in the United States, her depiction of a Depression-ravaged America, and her decision to abandon her career to raise a family.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The best of Marion Post Wolcott's (1910-1990) photographs of the Deep South during the Depression rank with those of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, her colleagues in the Farm Security Administration. Unlike them, Wolcott (who also ventured to Montana and Vermont) is scarcely remembered today, partly because she dropped out of the FSA in 1942 after three years on the road, renouncing her art for the sake of marriage and children. Illustrated with 92 photographs, this affectionate biographical-critical portrait by Washington Post staff writer Hendrickson recreates Wolcott's brave solo travels, from shantytowns and speakeasies to plantations, coal miners' homes, strikes and swank beach clubs. Her cogent documentary pictures celebrate ordinary, enduring Americans and fathom the hidden costs of racial bigotry, cowboy dreams and our tendency to make the dispossessed invisible.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is an undocumented biography of a photographer best known for the compassionate Farm Security photographs she took during the final years of the Depression and nearly forgotten today. In 1941, at the age of 31, Marion Post abandoned her greatest passion to pursue marriage and motherhood, having produced a remarkable body of work in only three years. Few of the photographs here are familiar, but all are strong and enduring images of common places and common people, good-hearted Americans struggling to keep their lives intact during the most catastrophic experience of our century. Washington Post staff writer Hendrickson tells Wolcott's story in a folksy narrative that often overpowers her unobtrusive photographic style. The absence of footnotes and a bibliography limits the book's audience and usefulness, though informed readers will be interested.
- Kathleen Collins, New York Transit Museum Archives
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 297 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st ed edition (April 21, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394577299
• ISBN-13: 978-0394577296
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #599,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fascinating story of talented woman with amazing photos, December 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Looking For The Light: The Hidden Life and Art of Marion Post Wolcott (Hardcover)

this is a beatifully written biography of an underrecognized photographer who spent 3 years from l939-41 travelling alone thru the south of the US for the FSA (Farm "Security Administration) taking incredible photographs. The book is worth while for the photos alone, not to mention the author's fascinating exploration of her life, and investigation of why she essentially gave up photography. A very affirming book in the sense of the choices one makes in life. I found myself showing the book to strangers on an airplane, I was so moved by the story and the photographs. Check it out.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellently written biography, August 17, 2008

By 

Flapper Jane (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Looking For The Light: The Hidden Life and Art of Marion Post Wolcott (Hardcover)

This is a beautifully written, I would even say, lyrical, biography that is also strong in an area where biographers often disappoint: Hendrickson goes beyond mere biographical details to assess his subject's life. "This is a story about an an artist who stopped, who let go of that gifted, magical thing inside her until it was too late and the gift was lost."

In places the biography reads like a memoir, since Hendrickson includes quotations from the subject and also from people who knew her. Speaking of her parents, Marion Post Wolcott writes: "She once took me to see Isadora Duncan dance. Well, nobody else in the social group my parents were in would have thought of taking their child to the city to see Isadora Duncan. . . . She was exposing me to art. To Daddy, dancing on a stage was something harlots did in burlesque houses."

I had never heard of Maureen Post Wolcott before reading this book, and I have only a passing interest in photography. But you really don't need a reason to know about this woman to enjoy her biography. She's a fascinating woman who is also lucky in her biographer. Based on his work on this biography, I would read anything else that Hendrickson has written.