ALLEN PORTER (b.1926) USA
Filmstrips 1947
Photogram vintage gelatin silver print
Size: (unframed): H: 11” x W: 14”
Size: (frame): H: 20” x W: 23”
After attending art programs at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, Porter enrolled at the ID upon his return from military service in WWII. His course of study included graphic design and photography. His photograms were produced while working with famed ID photography instructors Frank Levstik and Ferenc Berko. Shortly after leaving the ID in 1949, Porter established a design office in Los Angeles during the height of the California modern design movement. He incorporated his innovative light work into design projects for important clients like Gruen Lighting and Carroll Sagar & Associates.
EUGENE OMAR GOLDBECK (1892-1986) USA
Indoctrination Division, Air Training Command, Lackland Air Base, San Antonio, Texas, July 19, 1947
Signed: Natural Photo and News Service EO Goldbeck © photo (on matting); LR Conner EG 81
Size: H: 19” x W: 16 ½”; Size (with mat): H: 24” x W: 20”
Framed: H: 26 5/8” x W: 23 7/8”
Price: $6,500
Known as the “unofficial photographer of America’s military,” Goldbeck conducted three-year tours to all of the major military bases in and outside of the United States until demand diminished for military group photos after World War II. He pushed the limits of his craft by working with larger and larger groups in striking designs. For his record setting group shot, in which 21,765 men were arranged to represent the Air Force insignia, he spent more than six weeks building a 200-foot tower and making blueprints of the formation and attire of his subjects. The photograph was subsequently featured in Life magazine and became the most frequently reproduced of his prints.