B. Anthony
Stewart was born in Lynch Station, Virginia, in 1904. He National
Geographic in 1927 initially as a photo lab bookkeeper, but quickly came to the
attention of National Geographic chairman Gil Grosvenor as a talented photographer.
Until he
retired in 1969, he was always a staff photographer and did not engage in
self-promotion or public showings. He did not consider himself an artist.
Nonetheless, his work epitomizes the early days of documentary photography.
And because
he worked for a magazine with far-reaching global influence, his images had a
world-wide influence as well. The purpose of his work was always to tell a
story.
He used all
of the emerging photographic technologies but his technique came from an
earlier era and he took painstaking efforts to set up every detail in a
photograph so composition was perfect.
He would
say that his shots were planned but not staged. His Depression Era close
up of the sooty, sweaty, unshaven face of an Appalachian coal miner with pale
piercing eyes and a haunting determined look became and remains an icon of
the age.
When in
July 1959 National Geographic decided to break its nearly century long policy
of not having photographs on its cover, it was a patriotic image shot by Stewart
that was chosen to launch its series of the world’s most recognized magazine
covers.
All images © B. Anthony Stewart
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