Farm Life in Black and White: Pete Wettach Exposition

"Farm Life in Iowa: Photographs by A.M. Wettach" opens today in the MacNider Art Museum's Kinney-Lindstrom Gallery in Mason City, Iowa (USA).

The exhibition, on display through March 20, features 30 black and white photographs taken by A.M. "Pete" Wettach (1901-1976) from 1925 to 1960, 35 of the most revolutionary years for farming as a way of life in Iowa.

The exhibition, organized by the University of Iowa Museum of Art in Iowa City, is a reflection on the past generation of Iowa farmers and the consequences of the philosophies and events that affected their lives. (...)

"We recognize ourselves in Pete Wettach's pictures," Edwards said. "Even if you didn't live on a farm, you hear stories about that way of life, and the farm landscape still defines our surroundings. It's apparent that although much has changed in 60 years, many traditional characteristics of life in Iowa remain."

(...) More than 10,000 negatives taken by Wettach are housed at the State Historical Society of Iowa in Iowa City. Formerly a farmer himself, Wettach was employed as a loan officer for the Farm Security Administration (FSA), which provided financial and technical support to debt-ridden and dislocated farmers. While employed by the FSA, and for more than 20 years after, Wettach worked out of his home in Mount Pleasant as a freelance photographer.

His photographs have appeared in Wallace's Farmer, Farm Journal, National Geographic and the Saturday Evening Post.

Wettach's photographs provide important historical evidence of farming advances in Iowa and honor traditions that stressed independence and self-sufficiency. His subjects included obsolete farming methods such as planting corn with a check wire and buckrake; haymaking; handy gadgets; and poignant portraits of farmers and their families.

Throughout its tour, the exhibition will be shown at 10 art museums, libraries and galleries across the state of Iowa. The exhibition is funded by the General Education Fund of the University of Iowa through the Office of the Provost. (...) For more information, call (641) 421-3666.

[ Read more: GlobeGazette (Source) ]