Cristo, Oaxaca

1933, printed 1940 · Photograph

Pormenores

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”.
1933
Divorces Rebecca Salsbury
His marriage to the painter Rebecca Salsbury, begun in 1922, ends in divorce. Strand had photographed her often, sometimes in unusually intimate, tightly cropped compositions.
1933–1952
Nearly twenty years without a darkroom of his own
From 1933 to 1952 Strand has no darkroom of his own and uses other people’s.
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.
1936
Marries Virginia Stevens
Having met Virginia Stevens after his divorce from his first wife, Strand marries her; the marriage will last until 1950.