Strand, Paul

Strand, Paul

(1890–1976) photographer; born in New York City. Originally a portrait photographer (1912–22) whose work was exhibited by Stieglitz, he began photographing machines, rocks, and plants to capture their abstract shapes and forms. In 1921 he filmed Manhatta, an abstract tribute to Manhattan. President of Frontier films (1937–42), he made leftist documentaries including The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936). He moved to Orgeval, France, in 1951 to escape McCarthyism.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.