Disfarmer

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nikonosguy

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Funny you never hear much about Disfarmer around here like you do many of the other mid 20th century photographers...
I like his work a lot

http://www.disfarmer.com/

Some are inclined to write it off easily, or he just stays out of the usual photographer discussions --- Maybe I'm the only fan of his stuff on the forum.

In the small mountain town of Heber Springs, the Arkansas artist known as Disfarmer captured the lives and emotions of the people of rural America between 1939-1945. Critics have hailed Disfarmer's remarkable black and white portraits as "a work of artistic genius" and "a classical episode in the history of American photography."
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In the small mountain town of Heber Springs, the Arkansas portrait photographer known as Mike Disfarmer captured the lives and emotions of the people of rural America during the two World Wars and the Great Depression. Critics have hailed Disfarmer's remarkable black and white portraits as "a work of artistic genius" and "a classical episode in the history of American photography." This documentary discovers an American master, his influence on the modern Manhattan art world, and the legacy he left behind in his hometown of Heber Springs.
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I go to heber springs often and the world of these photos is long gone... maybe this year, I'll do a Disfarmer inspired series --
 
I found him hard to get into, but as always, with things I don't immediately get that others see value in and appear to understand while I don't, I tried harder. It took me a few months of repeatedly going back to his books, but after I caught on, he became one of my favorite photographers. It's because of him, after my understanding gelled, that I started taking large format studio portraits a couple of years ago. I certainly don't claim to be doing what he did, but I'm trying to work with the same mindset that I think he must have had, while not being a clone. https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaeldarnton/ Working in 5x7 and 8x10, which I had never done before, is helping me with this by slowing everything down and intensifying the experience.

Another thing that helped me along this path was this show: http://wfae.org/post/exhibit-focuses-fake-authentic-rembrandt-paintings. Strangely, seeing this exhibition (during the same time I was on my Disfarmer binge) I found something in common between Disfarmer and Rembrandt. . . . really! Dennis Weller's comments, which I hadn't read until this moment looking for a refrence to the show, touches on part of it.

I suspect that many people just think that he's gotten attention because of the oddball aspect and second-rate nostalgia, though, which is probably why you don't see much about him.

Did you know about this book? http://www.amazon.com/Heber-Springs-Portraits-Continuity-Photographed/dp/0826317340
 
I'll take a slightly counter.view to Michael, in as much as I think there is a bit of the 'in the Gallery syndrome (ref: Dire Straits, 1978). I've only looked through the online gallery and the work is fine, even good, but I think is also the output of a working photographer of the era. Will 'venture' get the same treatment in the future?

I suspect he'd have been delighted to have been able to sell limited edition prints for $1,500;)
 
I wasn't aware of Mike Disfarmer until coming across this thread. I kind of see where the above comment about him being a working photographer and this being the work of a working photographer comes from. As a buyer/viewer I'm not sure how much one or two prints of strangers staring at me would entice or interest me. As a collection of work it starts to become far more interesting, the style and substance of the work as a whole starts to become clearer and more interesting - perhaps, again as a buyer/viewer, I could have 20-50 prints to place as a block on a wall I'd start to get the enjoyment from overall span. It reminds me in my relationship to it of the old Victorian mugshot photos, that element of social History that simply fascinates.

I should also accept my own limitations here. As someone who has never been as impressed with portrait photography as with other genres. Admittedly, this has much to do with my own discomfort at successfully (or more aptly unsuccessfully) drawing something from the sitter. Though the sheer volume of shared lack of success in this regard has also tainted my desire to view much photographic portraiture - portraiture still being the biggest photographic endeavour (even beating 'street' ;) ) when you include pictures of friends, family, selfies, FB etc etc. Perhaps volume is the key. I can deal with one portrait that strikes hard or seeps in quite easily but everything else washes over me, overwhelming me completely unless I accept that its the ocean itself that's impressive, not the wave.

Now whether the Venture style photography will have that same value in seventy or eighty years I don't know. With the forced/suggested/over-egged 'fun' found in that style I'd like to suggest not but it will without any doubt tell its own tale to future generations.
 
Good to see this name come up again. There was a fairly extensive magazine article about him several decades ago. It pointed out what Simon says above - he was a working photographer in a small community. There are some interesting comparisons to Sander's work in Germany.
 
And...to take it deeper, I recommend listening to Bill Frisell's "Disfarmer" recording. he puts into music the feeling of the man and his photography.
 
I'm intrigued by the subtle dismissal implied by the term "working photographer". As if the work is somehow less important because the photographer was paid to do it to make a living. "Working photographers" have included Gene Smith, HCB and all of the other members of Magnum, magazine employees such as Steichen and Avedon, and a host of other important photographers. . .
 
mdarnton said:
I'm intrigued by the subtle dismissal implied by the term "working photographer". As if the work is somehow less important because the photographer was paid to do it to make a living. "Working photographers" have included Gene Smith, HCB and all of the other members of Magnum, magazine employees such as Steichen and Avedon, and a host of other important photographers. . .
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This is something that I too have noticed. A dichotomy of sorts.

Mme. O and I were discussing it a few weeks ago.

Art-makers who are only that are viewed with distrust and sometimes derision and yet an artist can't be an artist if they are doing the same ouvre as a trade/craft.

It seems more prevalent in the English-speaking west but I'm not sure.

Oscuro
 
There was no dismissal intended when I used the term. I refer to myself as a jobbing photographer, with some pride too as I see the benefits of being pragmatic enough to ensure I provide what my customers desire, the implication if there was any was one of honest upfront graft. I do however see the point and wouldn't wish to suggest that this demeans the quality or merit of his work, to do so would instantly reflect on my own...and I'm certainly no Avedon, Steichen or Smith.
 
I like Mike.

But, yeah, haven't heard anything about him for years. I bought a book 10+ years ago, but have forgotten about it. There's a documentary? Sweet. Thanks for the reminder.
 
Have scoured the antique stores in the area, and found none of his work. I'm going to keep looking as I really enjoy his work. He's interesting to say the least. Not everybody's cup of tea. What is wrong with being a working photographer?
 
my suspicion is that there are several families that still have disfarmer prints in their albums -- but 10 years ago when he got hot, there was a group of guys scouring the area for prints
 
Recent article: Who Owns Mike Disfarmer’s Photographs? | The New Yorker

http://www.disfarmer.org/

https://monovisions.com/disfarmer-the-vintage-prints/

From https://americansuburbx.com/2012/01/mike-disfarmer-disfarmer-rediscovered.html: "How to summarize Disfarmer’s (dare I say) artistic achievement? By virtue of his trade as a small-town studio photographer, Disfarmer was the ultimate insider, privy to each family’s rites of passage – from first birthdays to high school graduations, engagements and army furloughs, anniversaries and reunions – as well as to the private joys of close friends celebrating a night on the town. But in fundamental ways (described in detail in Woodward’s essay in the present volume) he remained a lifelong outsider: an agnostic from Lutheran stock among church-going Baptists and Methodists, the son of a German-born Union soldier in the heart of the South, a man of perception among men of action, a confirmed bachelor in a community of large families. In my view, it is this unique insider/outsider mix, so evident in the pictures themselves, that is the essence of his genius, and the reason why – despite three decades of intense searching – no other studio photographer from that era has been uncovered whose accomplishment remotely matches Disfarmer’s."


https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6gmv2z
"In the small mountain town of Heber Springs, the Arkansas portrait photographer known as Mike Disfarmer captured the lives and emotions of the people of rural America during the two World Wars and the Great Depression. Critics have hailed Disfarmer’s remarkable black and white portraits as “a work of artistic genius” and “a classical episode in the history of American photography.” This feature documentary discovers an American master, his influence on the modern Manhattan art world, and the legacy he left behind in his hometown of Heber Springs."
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I am struck by the intimacy and intensity of his subject's eye-contact and wonder if this had anything to do with it.

From the New Yorker article:
"To jolt subjects out of practiced poses, Disfarmer sometimes fired a flash or clanged a cowbell. The resulting portraits were far odder and more intimate than the average family snapshot."
 
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