Gateway, Hidalgo

1932–1935

Lives in Mexico and works on the film “Redes”

Strand lives in Mexico and works on “Redes” (1936), a film commissioned by the Mexican government and released in the United States as “The Wave”.

1936

Helps found the Photo League

Strand is one of the founders of the Photo League, a cooperative of photographers that between 1936 and 1951 campaigned for social reform and for using art to promote social and political causes. He and Elizabeth McCausland were particularly active in it, he himself something of an elder statesman; Ansel Adams and Nancy Newhall also contributed to the League’s publication, Photo News.

1946

Retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art in New York holds a large retrospective of Strand’s work, spanning documentary photography, portraits, landscapes, plants, architecture, industrial sites and machines.

December 1947

The Photo League lands on the list of subversive organizations

In December 1947 the Photo League, which Strand had helped to found, appears on the US Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations. The League was active until 1951.

June 1949

Leaves the United States and stays in France

In June 1949 Strand travels to present “Native Land” at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and, unwilling to tolerate the growing McCarthyism, stays in France and never returns to the United States. He spends the last 27 years of his life in Orgeval (Yvelines), never learning French; declassified files later showed that security services monitored him closely.