Carl Mydans
Creator Details
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Birth
May 20, 1907 (Boston, Massachusetts)
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Death
Aug. 16, 2004 (Larchmont, New York)
After graduating from college and working as a writer for local newspapers, Carl Mydans joined the Farm Security Administration (FSA) as a photojournalist in 1935. In this role, Mydans depicted the effects of the Great Depression in rural areas, focusing on farm workers in Arkansas and the broader American South. In 1936, Mydans became one of the first staff photographers for LIFE magazine, and it was during this time that he produced the most important photographs of his career. He photographed Europe and Asia during World War II, documenting events such as the liberation of the Philippines, the bombing of Chongqing in China, and the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. Mydans also photographed the Fukui Earthquake, the Korean War, and Moscow under Soviet rule. With his wife, American writer Shelley Smith Mydans, he was taken as a prisoner of war by the Japanese army from 1942 to 1944. The couple co-authored the book The Violent Peace: A Report on Wars in the Postwar World (1968).
Artworks
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"The Elderly Butcher Boy of Fascism Steps Out" Was the LIFE Caption for This Picture of Mussolini on Parade in May, 1940, 1940
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.40
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A Bored Florentine Takes the Rape of a Sabine Woman Calmly. 1940, 1940
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.37
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A Cattle Drive from Mexico Enters Eagle Pass, Texas. 1937, 1937
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.7
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A Coal Miner in Durham, England. 1952, 1952
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.137
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A Customer Comes to the General Store in Terlingua, Texas. 1937, 1937
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.22
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A French Woman Accused of Collaboration with the Germans is Shaved by Vindictive Neighbors in a Village near Marseille. August, 1944, 1944
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.84
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A German Prisoner is Taken in the Fighting South of Rome. 1944, 1944
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.83
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A Korean Mother Carrying Her Baby and Her Worldly Goods Flees the Fighting around Seoul during the Winter Attack of 1951, 1951
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.149
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A London News Vendor Defies Hitler During the "Phony War." November, 1939, 1939
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.33
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A Migrant Family at Home on the Road. Raymondville, Texas, 1937, 1937
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.21
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A Survivor of the Fukui Earthquake Carries His Dead Wife through the Ruins. 1948, 1948
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.111
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A Texas Cowboy. 1938, 1938
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.1
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A Trench Roadway Cut into the Soft Loess Earth Protects Travelers from Japanese Shelling near the Tungkuan Fort on the Chinese Front. 1941, 1941
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.151
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A Turkish Sentry of the United Nations Forces Stands Watching the Frozen Dawn. Korea, 1951, 1951
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.125
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A Union Organizer Works the Crowd on Wall Street, New York City. 1936, 1936
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.24
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A Whiteface Steer Charges the Photographer near Gallagher Ranch, Texas. 1937, 1937
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.23
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A Wife and Children Find Their Dead after a Bloody Uprising in Yosu, Korea, in 1948, 1948
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.119
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A Young Frenchman Convicted of Collaboration with the Germans Is Tied to a Stake in Grenoble, France. September, 1944, 1944
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.94
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Aged Mental Patients in a State Hospital. 1959, 1959
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.128
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American Tourists in American Samoa. 1962, 1962
Carl Mydans
Gelatin silver print
P1985.27.129