Doris Ulmann, WPA Platinum Photography Print 'Man at a Loom, Berea, Kentucky'.

Doris Ulmann (American, 1882-1934). 'Man at a Loom, Berea, Kentucky.' WPA period platinum print, unsigned. Provenance: From a Private Collection, North Carolina. Purchased at Stanford Auctioneers, Phoenix, Arizona, September 2015, for $750 plus bp.

Doris Ulmann is best known for her portraits of the people of appalachia, particularly craftsmen and musicians, taken between 1928 and 1934. Ulmann's early work includes a series of portraits of prominent artists and writers such as William Butler Yeats, Sinclair Lewis, Martha Graham, Lillian Gish and others.

Ulmann then began her most important series, assembling documentation of appalachian folk arts and crafts for Allen Eaton's landmark 1937 book, Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands. Ulmann was assisted on her rural travels by John Jacob Niles, a musician and folklorist who collected ballads while Ulmann photographed. Provenance: From a Private Collection, North Carolina. Stanford Auctioneers, Phoenix, Arizona, September 2015, selling for $750.


Sight - 8" high x 6" wide. In sealed vintage mount and mat, 14" high x 11" wide.