(click to enlarge)
White Fence, photograph by Paul Strand, 1916. (credit: Courtesy of Paul Strand)

(born Oct. 16, 1890, New York, N.Y., U.S. — died March 31, 1976, Oregeval, France) U.S. photographer. He studied photography with Lewis Hine. At Hine's urging, he frequented Alfred Stieglitz's "291" gallery; the avant-garde paintings by Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, and Georges Braque that he saw there led him to emphasize abstract form and pattern in his photographs, such as Wall Street (1915). He rejected soft-focus Pictorialism in favour of the minute detail and rich tonal range afforded by the use of large-format cameras. Much of his later work was devoted to North American and European scenes and landscapes. He collaborated on documentary films with Charles Sheeler and Pare Lorentz.

For more information on Paul Strand, visit Britannica.com.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.