Modern Photographers Collection

The Dark Before Dawn, 1924

A selection of images from the work of nationally and internationally renowned local photographers Max Allara, Art Hupy, Ernest Kassowitz, Kyo Koike, Frank Kunishige, Charles Pearson, Mary Randlett, Don Wallen and others. These photographers were active in the Pacific Northwest community from the late 1920's to the present. They operated both as commercial photographers and as artists documenting the cultural and scenic landscape of life in the Northwest. Through their lenses we see the Northwest transformed in styles reminiscent of Japanese artistic tradition. We also see portraits of artists and poets, the painters Tobey and Graves, artfully posed in local settings. Pacific Northwest architecture and local landmarks such as the Pike Place Market are also represented. All of these photographers have been frequently published and exhibited and represent some of the best of the Northwest.

About the Database

The information for the Modern Photographers Collection was researched and prepared by the UW Libraries Special Collections and Cataloging staff in 2004. The photographs are selected from a variety of collections. The images were scanned from photographic prints in grayscale and color using a Microtek Scanmaker 9600L and saved in .jpg format. Some manipulation of the images was done to present the clearest possible digital image. The scanned images were then linked with descriptive data using the Contentdm software suite. The original collections reside in the UW Libraries Special Collections Division.