Watch Walter Rosenblum: In Search of Pitt Street
- NR
- 2012
- 1 hr
Walter Rosenblum is recognized as one of the most important photographers of Twentieth Century America. His photographs of World War II, the liberation of Dachau, of Haiti, Europe and the neighborhoods of New York City are a cherished part of our national heritage.The images that he has made during his 60 year career serve to make us feel not only of the ravages of war but tender human moments. Walter Rosenblum's photographs have been exhibited widely and can be found in the collections of many of the world's major art museums. His early involvement with photography began when as a 19 year old he joined the Photo League and studied with such important photographers as Lewis Hine and Paul Strand. His first photographs were taken on the Lower East Side, where he spent his youth; this neighborhood has remained his lifelong inspiration and a place to which he continues to return even now. Rosenblum's work was first published by Ralph Steiner in the newspaper PM. In 1939, he became the assistant to LIFE magazine photographer Eliot Elisofon, and in 1941, he freelanced for SURVEY GRAPHIC and MADAMOISELLE magazine. He documented the farming and war effort for the Agricultural Adjustment Administration before being drafted. In 1943, his photographs were selected for the Museum of Modern Art exhibition, "New Workers I". As a World War II combat photographer, Rosenblum took part in the D-Day landings at Omaha Beach where he and his team captured "the longest day" in photographs and movies known worldwide. When the movie photographer on his team was killed, he took over the job and remained a motion picture photographer for the rest of the war. The anti-tank battalion to which he was attached drove through France, Germany and Austria. He was the first Army cameraman to film the liberation of Dachau concentration camp. One of the most decorated combat cameramen of the war, Rosenblum's war images are among the most memorable to emerge from the conflict. Aft