In the early 1940s as the conflict between the Axis and the Allies spread worldwide; the U.S. State Department turned its attention to Axis influence in Latin America. As head of the Office of Inter-American Affairs; Nelson Rockefeller was charged with cultivating the regionrsquo;s support for the Allies while portraying Brazil and its neighbors as dependable wartime partners. Genevieve Naylor; a photojournalist previously employed by the Associated Press and the WPA; was sent to Brazil in 1940 by Rockefellerrsquo;s agency to provide photographs that would support its need for propaganda. Often balking at her mundane assignments; an independent-minded Naylor produced something far different and far more richmdash;a stunning collection of over a thousand photographs that document a rarely seen period in Brazilian history. Accompanied by analysis from Robert M. Levine; this selection of Naylorrsquo;s photographs offers a unique view of everyday life during one of modern Brazilrsquo;s least-examined decades.Working under the constraints of the Vargas dictatorship; the instructions of her employers; and a chronic shortage of film and photographic equipment; Naylor took advantage of the freedom granted her as an employee of the U.S. government. Traveling beyond the fashionable neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro; she conveys in her work the excitement of an outside observer for whom all is fresh and newmdash;along with a sensibility schooled in depression-era documentary photography of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans; as well as the work of Cartier-Bresson and filmmaker Serge Eisenstein. Her subjects include the very rich and the very poor; black Carnival dancers; fishermen; rural peasants from the interior; workers crammed into trolleysmdash;ordinary Brazilians in their own settingmdash;rather than simply Brazilian symbols of progress as required by the dictatorship or a population viewed as exotic Latins for the consumption of North American travelers.With Levinersquo;s text providing details of Naylorrsquo;s life; perspectives on her photographs as social documents; and background on Brazilrsquo;s wartime relationship with the United States; this volume; illustrated with more than one hundred of Naylorrsquo;s Brazilian photographs will interest scholars of Brazilian culture and history; photojournalists and students of photography; and all readers seeking a broader perspective on Latin American culture during World War II.Genevieve Naylor began her career as a photojournalist with Time; Fortune; and the Associated Press before being sent to Brazil. In 1943; upon her return; she became only the second woman to be the subject of a one-woman show at New Yorkrsquo;s Museum of Modern Art. She served as Eleanor Rooseveltrsquo;s personal photographer and; in the 1950s and 1960s became well known for her work in Harperrsquo;s Bazaar; primarily as a fashion photographer and portraitist. She died in 1989.
#2714753 in eBooks 2013-12-19 2013-12-19File Name: B00HFTU4SW
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A handbook that needs 10 starsBy tdbIts a subtle book that I overlooked for a while then after reading a review from a blog decided; why to buy it. So; why arent more people snapping up this book? It is a treasure to have! I cannot say enough about how awesome it is. It goes in depth about the yukata; its history; and leave no stone unturned-I can give more details; but you have to buy it. There are sections on accessories; types of obi ties; underclothes; how to sit and move around (i.e. hail a taxi and drink a beverage). Oh; theres also a section on mens yukata-although they dont need as much to get dressed than women-this is just glossed over details; there so much more wonderfulness inside that pages. Its a small book; but it is filled to the brim with useful information and instructions; and the yukata eye candy is drool worthy. I can go on and on raving about the book; which is a very good length; and wish I could give it ten stars.
