Russell Lee
Saying grace before the barbeque dinner at the fair, Pie Town, New Mexico

ArtistAmerican, 1903–1986
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Saying grace before the barbeque dinner at the fair, Pie Town, New Mexico
DateOctober 1940, printed 1985
Place depictedPie Town, New Mexico, United States
MediumDye imbibition print
DimensionsImage: 6 1/2 × 10 in. (16.5 × 25.4 cm)
Sheet: 9 1/2 × 13 in. (24.1 × 33 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Lynn and Marcel Mason
Object number2015.187
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

When viewers today envision the Great Depression, the world of images called to mind are black-and-white. The most famous of these pictures were taken by the photographic division of the Farm Security Administration, which produced an archive of more than 160,000 photographs between 1935 and 1944. Photographers including Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Russell Lee documented the plight of impoverished America—farmers and migrant workers struggling under severe conditions—in the hopes that exposure would elicit support for New Deal government’s expensive programming.


However, these black-and-white photographs do not tell the whole story. Lee was one of group of younger FSA photographers who experimented with Kodachrome—the first color film available for widespread use—after it was introduced to the American market in 1936, together producing some 600 transparencies. Color photography was increasingly popular in the 1930s and 1940s, but the FSA ultimately felt that the color image was discordant with the documentary tone of the project and did not disseminate them. Consequently, color photographs such as this one from Pie Town, New Mexico, remain largely unknown even today.


Lee often carried two cameras, one loaded with black-and-white film and the other with color, and would shoot a scene with either or both film stocks, as he deemed appropriate. His photographs from Pie Town are among the most famous bodies of work produced for the agency.


ProvenanceProduced by Tennyson Schad, with approval of the artist, Light Gallery, New York, NY, 1985; early provenance unknown; Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, NY; Houston Center for Photography, Fine Print Auction, Houston, TX, 2015; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso:
Saying Grace Before the Pie Town New Mexico Fair
Oct. 1940
1986
361.25
PF112946-111
RWFA 1985
Signed in pencil on sheet verso: Tennyson Schad
Printed label on verso:
LIVE AUCTION LOT 30 / Russell lee (American 1903-1986 / Saying grace before the Pie Town, New Mexico, / Fair, Oct. 1940. (1940, Printed 1985) / Dye transfer print, 6.5 x 10 inches / Courtesy of Howard Greenberg Gallery / (New York, NY) / Credit and copyright stamps on the verso, with / inscriptions in pencil by an unknown hand. Print / signed by Tennyson Schad. / Retail Value $4,000.00

Stamped in ink on sheet verso:
This will authenticate that this print is one
of a limited edition of 250 Dye Transfer prints
made by LIGHT Gallery, of 724 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10019, from the original Farm
Security Administration transparencies held by
the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Stamped in Ink on sheet verso:
TITLE:

TRANSPARENCY DATE:

PRINTING DATE:

LIGHT GALLERY REG. NO.:

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

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