Paul Strand

 Paul Strand, born October 16, 1890-March 31, 1976. Strand was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. Although he was never a member of the Communist party Strand was politically of the left, many of his collaborators were either Party members or were prominent socialist writers and activists. Many of his friends were also Communists or were suspected of being so. Strand was also closely involved with Frontier Films, one of more than twenty organizations that were branded as ‘subversive’ and ‘un-American’ by the US Attorney General. His sympathies were with the ordinary working man and woman and much of his photography was concerned with the dignity and importance of labour and the "working class". He saw himself as a documentary photographer who's role was to record and reveal the truth about social injustice and the position of the common man. He insisted that his books should be printed in Leipzig, East Germany, even if this meant that they were initially prohibited from the American market on account of their Communist provenance. De-classified intelligence files, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and now lodged at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, reveal that Strand’s movements around Europe were closely monitored by the security services.