
Dorin Pintile, Onesti, Rumania
<p>Paul Strand may have wanted to make this portrait because of the rather magnificent hat, a quasi-sculptural creation of leather, fabric, and wire. Like his photographs do, the hat marries a craftsman’s dexterity with materials to a mechanical form. But Strand would never have photographed the hat without its wearer. In his later years especially, socialist societies and their promise of a better humanity formed his deepest concern. The beautiful, somewhat androgynous Dorin Pintile is a worker in the oil industry, a vital engine for communist Romania.</p> <p>See also: Mark Crinson, “Paul Strand’s Ghana and Photography after Colonialism,” Art Bulletin (December 2016)</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1967
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image: 24.2 × 19.4 cm (9 9/16 × 7 11/16 in.); Paper/mount: 24.9 × 20.2 cm (9 13/16 × 8 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Paul Strand
Artist

Photography
Paul Strand was an American photographer and filmmaker whose formal rigor and tonal range established modern photography as a fine art medium. Working primarily in black and white, he developed a practice rooted in precise framing, close observation of ordinary objects and landscapes, and a commitment to handmade printing processes. His photographs of machine parts, architectural details, and village life across America, Mexico, Egypt, France, and Scotland demonstrate an unflinching attention to surface texture and geometric composition. He collaborated with filmmaker Paul Rotha and exhibited widely throughout the twentieth century, maintaining a studio practice into his later decades.
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More by Paul Strand
Iris and Stump, Orgeval, France
1973 · Gelatin silver print, from "Portfolio Four" (1980)
Fall in Movement, the Garden, Orgeval
1973 · Gelatin silver print, from "Portfolio Four" (1980)
Fungus, Orgeval
1967 · Gelatin silver print, from "Portfolio Two" (1976)
The Garden, Orgeval
1964 · Gelatin silver print, from "Portfolio Two" (1976)
Oil Refinery, Tema, Ghana
1963 · Gelatin silver print, from "Portfolio Three" (1980)
Bani Salah, Fayyum, Egypt
1959 · Gelatin silver print, from "Portfolio Four"
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Paul Strand
- Year
- 1967
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image: 24.2 × 19.4 cm (9 9/16 × 7 11/16 in.); Paper/mount: 24.9 × 20.2 cm (9 13/16 × 8 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1967-122196
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified





