graphy, by the end of the twentieth century, the
medium had taken many forms. While traditional
themes of social justice and magical realism contin-
ued, many other forms of experimental photogra-
phy prospered. Among them was the avant-garde
work of Luis Gonza ́lez Palma and Mario Cravo
Neto. Others such as Pedro Meyer, Graciela Itur-
bide, and Flor Gardun ̃o produced documentary
fine art. Overall, by the end of the century, the
Latin American photography scene was as diverse
and vibrant as anywhere in the world.
RonaldYoungSeealso:Bravo, Manuel A ́lvarez; Chambi, Martı ́n;
Documentary Photography; Modotti, Tina; Photo-
graphy in Central America; Photography in Mexico;
Photography in South America; Portraiture; Wes-
ton, EdwardFurther Reading
Billeter, Erika.A Song to Reality: Latin American Photogra-
phy, 1860–1993. Barcelonaand New York: Lunwerg, 1998.
Hopkinson, Amanda. ‘‘‘Mediated Worlds’: Latin American
Photography.’’Bulletin of Latin American Research20:4
(2001): 520–527.
Levine, Robert M.Images of History: Nineteenth and Early
Twentieth Century Latin American Photographs as Docu-
ments. Durham and London: Duke University Press,
1989.
Levine, Robert M. ed.Windows on Latin America: Under-
standing Society through Photographs. Coral Gables, FL:
North-South Center, University of Miami, 1987.
Watriss, Wendy, and Lois Parkinson Zamora, eds.Image
and Memory: Photography from Latin America, 1866–
1994. Austin, TX: The University of Texas Press, 1998.CLARENCE JOHN LAUGHLIN
American
For most of his career as an active photographer
(1930–1967), Clarence John Laughlin remained
outside the mainstream of American photographic
practice. Laughlin’s first love was writing, and his
interest in photography began with the notion that
the images could add another layer of under-
standing to his words. Although the bulk of his
work is straightforward black and white pho-
tography made with a 45-inch view camera, it
is the relatively small number of pictures involving
staged tableaux, collage, multiple printing, and other
techniques that often put him at odds with those
who practiced and championed straight photogra-
phy in the United States. It was his insistence that
the captions written to accompany the pictures were
integral elements of the photographs, and needed to
be displayed with them that in part created a reputa-
tion that he was a cantankerous individual. It was
not until the late 1960s, when Laughlin had ceased to
photograph consistently, that his work began to be
seriously considered as a unique and important voice
in the photographic history of the twentieth century.
Laughlin’s pact with the written word was hardly
superficial. His father encouraged him to read at an
early age, but when the elder Laughlin died in 1918,
Clarence left school to help support his mother and
crippled sister. He continued to read, especially
American fiction and the writings of the French
Symbolist poets. At his death in 1985, his personal
library numbered some 30,000 volumes. He was
likewise self-taught as a photographer.
Laughlin’s work is organized around a series of
23 themes or groups, the core of which was estab-
lished early in his career. By the time of his first
museum exhibition in 1936 at the Delgado Mu-
seum of Art (now the New Orleans Museum of
Art) the group structure was firmly in place. The
groups serve not only as a road map for the pro-
gression of his work, but as a key for understand-
ing the philosophical organization of it. The groups
addressed some prosaic themes, such asThe Louisi-
ana PlantationsandAmerican Victorian Architec-
ture, but also ventured into areas that were less
easily defined, such asPoems of the Interior World
andThe Mystery of Space.
The photographs of his American contempor-
aries (including Ansel Adams, Edward Steichen,
Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, and Edward Weston)
were known to Laughlin, but he found little in theirs
that reflected his own concerns of photography. HeLAUGHLIN, CLARENCE JOHN