Seen: American Dreams in the Cold War: Photographs by Barbara and Ralph Fox
Who: Barbara and Ralph Fox
Where: The Nebraska State Historical Society Museum, Lincoln
When: Up when I visited in mid June- no information available on closing date.
In June, while back in my hometown of Lincoln I stopped in to see the newly renovated State Historical Society Museum. On the first floor it was a pleasure to find a photographic exhibition up of good work by two photographers whose granddaughter has made an effort to reintroduce to the people of Nebraska. Ralph and Barbara Fox’s photos, taken on assignment for the local paper or out of general interest in the subject, summarize well what we are sure we know about mainstream American midwest culture through the 50′s- a land of proud farmers, state fair midways, blizzards, a time technological growth and might of the US military, and an era of small animals often accompanied by children that seem to have popped out of a Rockwell painting.
But rather than trite, illustrative pictures, the ones exhibited were quite good- pictures which would certainly hold up against images thought of as representative of the times. There’s a tendency to deify The Greats and to place their work on a pedestal as if Photography could be shaped as a smooth pyramid instead of the irregular busted up brick parking lot that it is. It’s important to realize that for every individual in the photographic pantheon there are countless people who have, like the Ralph and Barbara, made plenty of gems as well. Take Ralph’s photo of his young wife doing a backflip in the front yard– it’s about as perfect of a photo as possible, but not in form or composition, or in a general moment, but rather in the way it captures that moment between the two.