Payne, Carol J., author.

The official picture : the National Film Board of Canada's Still Photography Division and the image of Canada, 1941-1971 / by Carol Payne.

Montréal, Québec : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2013]
©2013

xix, 244 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 22 x 24 cm

McGill-Queen's/Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation studies in art history

"Mandated to foster a sense of national cohesion The National Film Board of Canada's Still Photography Division was the country's official photographer during the mid-twentieth century. Like the Farm Security Administration and other agencies in the US, the NFB used photographs to serve the nation. Division photographers shot everything from official state functions to images of the routine events of daily life, producing some of the most dynamic photographs of the time, seen by millions of Canadians - and international audiences - in newspapers, magazines, exhibitions, and filmstrips.
In The Official Picture, Carol Payne argues that the Still Photography Division played a significant role in Canadian nation-building during WWII and the two decades that followed. Payne examines key images, themes, and periods in the Division's history - including the depiction of women munitions workers, landscape photography in the 1950s and 60s, and portraits of Canadians during the Centennial in 1967 - to demonstrate how abstract concepts of nationhood and citizenship, as well as attitudes toward gender, class, linguistic identity, and conceptions of race were reproduced in photographs. The Official Picture looks closely at the work of many Division photographers from staff members Chris Lund and Gar Lunney during the 1940s and 1950s to the expressive documentary photography of Michel Lambeth, Michael Semak, and Pierre Gaudard, in the 1960s and after. The Division also produced a substantial body of Northern imagery documenting Inuit and Native peoples. Payne details how Inuit groups have turned to the archive in recent years in an effort to reaffirm their own cultural identity.

9780773541450 (cloth)
0773541454 (cloth)
(epdf)
9780773588943

National Film Board of Canada. Still Photography Division History.
National Film Board of Canada. Still Photography Division Influence.
Office national du film du Canada. Services de la photographie Histoire 20e siècle.
National Film Board of Canada. Still Photography Division
Documentary photography Government policy Canada History 20th century.
Documentary photography Social aspects Canada History 20th century.
Nationalism Canada History 20th century.
Photographie documentaire Politique gouvernementale Canada Histoire 20e siècle.
Photographie documentaire Aspect social Canada Histoire 20e siècle.
Nationalisme Canada Histoire 20e siècle.
Documentary photography Social aspects
Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.)
Canada Social conditions 1945-1971.
Canada Conditions sociales 1945-1971.
Canada

History

McGill-Queen's/Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation studies in art history.

National Film Board of Canada's Still Photography Division and the image of Canada, 1941-1971

Location: Library main canada 283769
Call No.: TR26 .P39 2013
Status: Available