Luke Swank
Modernist Photographer

January 9, 2006 Issue

Luke Swank (1890-1944) was one of the pioneers of Modernism in photography. During the mid-1930s, he was Pitt’s official photographer. Widely recognized during his lifetime, Swank has gone largely unnoticed since his death. In a professed effort to establish his place in the history of photography, the Carnegie Museum of Art created an exhibition titled Luke Swank: Modernist Photographer, featuring 141 of Swank’s black-and-white photos and a variety of memorabilia. The exhibition continues through Feb. 5.

During his two years working at Pitt, Swank created a course in photojournalism, thought to be the first college-level instruction in news photography, according to The New York Times. At the height of his career, Swank’s work was included in prestigious exhibitions in New York City, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and won praise from critics, art historians, and fellow photographers.

“What makes Swank’s vision unique,” said Carnegie Museum of Art guest curator Howard Bossen, professor of journalism at Michigan State University, “is his combination of traditional machine-age and social-documentary content with a dramatic and poetic use of light, form, and the picture frame.”

PHOTOS:

Top Left: Luke Swank

Bottom Left: Snake Charmer, C. 1934

Right: Steel Worker In Foundry, C. 1934