WASHINGTON -- The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History is displaying 80 photographs dealing with President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal era.
Titled 'Official Images: New Deal Photography,' the pictures show urban as well as rural scenes taken by such well-known artists as Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans as well as lesser-known government photographers and amateurs.
The New Deal was Roosevelt's assault on the Great Depression through government programs. The photographers themselves were employed by various federal agencies.
A book was published by Smithsonian Press in conjunction with the exhibition, which opened Wednesday and runs through January.
On view are selections of the work of five government agencies - the Farm Security Administration, the Agriculture Department, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the National Youth Administration and the Works Progress Administration.
During the 1930s, American photography gained international acclaim largely through the photo essays of Life and Look magazines.
