Picturing Faith:
Religious America in Government Photography, 1935-1943

February 3 - March 18, 2006

Jack Delano, Men outside church before service
Image: Jack Delano, Men outside church before service
Picturing Faith is a unique series of photographs showing the place of religion in American society through the lenses of some of America’s most well-known photographers—Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Gordon Parks. It also presents the works of equally talented but lesser known photographers—John Collier, Jr., Marion Post Wolcott, Russell Lee, Jack Delano, and Marjory Collins. Supported by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, the exhibition includes forty-five black-and-white photographs gathered from the FSA/OWI archives of the Library of Congress. Accompanying the photographs are explanatory materials that set the photographs in their historical, artistic, and religious contexts. Viewers will have an opportunity to consider how religious images were used in the political agenda of the New Deal and how people during this period experienced the divine in their lives.
Click for full press release.		 Take a QuickTime
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Image: John Vachon, Gospel Truck
Image: John Vachon, Gospel Truck		 Image: Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother
Image: Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother
Click for Exhibition Themes.
 Review by Gail Philbin
in the Grand Rapids Press.

Public Programs

Opening Reception
Friday, February 3, 7-9pm
Center Art Gallery

Lecture: " 'Truth Value' and Documentary Photography: Reading and Re-reading the FSA"
assistant professor of art history, Lisa VanArragon
Thursday, February 23, 4pm
Science Building 010

Film: "The Grapes of Wrath"
Co-sponsored by the Calvin Film Forum
Friday, March 3, 7:30pm
Bytwerk Theater/De Vos Communication Center

Lecture: "Picturing Faith"
professor of history and Sterling M. McMurrin Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Utah, Colleen McDannell
Co-sponsored by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, the Mellema Program in Western American Studies, the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship and the Office of the Provost.
Monday, March 6, 4pm
Gezon Auditorium