Riis reported that he paid the man 10 cents to sit for the portrait. In his later years, Riis offered lectures based on two of his books, The Making of an American (1901) and The Battle with the Slum (1902). Describing himself as a “photographer after a fashion,” he first guided avid amateur photographers willing to test new flash techniques to take nighttime pictures in the slums. See search results for this author. Jacob August Riis was a Danish-American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. Yard in Jersey Street (now gone) Where Italians Live in the Worst Slums, before 1898. Original lantern slide. 1902. Riis’s earliest lantern slide shows were modeled on the “slum tour” genre that he honed into a popular lecture and his bestselling book How the Other Half Lives. “The Making of an American,” handwritten lecture notes. The technology of photography was still novel when Jacob Riis invoked it to make the poor of his generation visible. . In the early 20th century, Hine's photographs of children working in … He is best known for his 1890 book How the Other Half Lives, which brought public attention to New York's squalid housing, sweatshops, bars, and alleys. External Link Disclaimer | Jacob August Riis (; May 3, 1849 – May 26, 1914) was a Danish-American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. This website stores cookies on your computer. Press | To find out more about the cookies we use, see our. He described the “Tramp” photo shoot this way: “On one of my visits to ‘the Bend’ I came across this fellow sitting . Title: Tramp in Mulberry Street Yard Location: New York City Date: 1887-1888 Photographer: Jacob Riis Riis's photographs had a certain shock value. A Danish born journalist and photographer, who exposed the liv… Book by Jacob Riis which included many photos regarding the sl… Riis believed that urbanizing New York would not be a good thi… His standard lecture fee was $150, and the venue was required to supply a magic lantern and a technician to operate it. Canvas on cardboard. Inspector General | The sudden increase in the size of his collection led him to number his negatives and create this inventory. It served as a basis for future "muckraking" journalism by exposing the slums to New York City’s upper and middle classes. Jacob Riis was a photographer and writer whose book 'How the Other Half Lives' led to a revolution in social reform. By submitting this form, you acknowledge that the information you provide will be transferred to MailChimp for processing in accordance with their, #ICPConcerned: Global Images for Global Crisis, ICP Reopens on October 1 with #ICPConcerned: Global Images for Global Crisis, COVID New York: Five ICP Alumni, George Georgiou: Americans Parade, and Tyler Mitchell: I Can Make You Feel Good on View. Jacob Riis: Flashes and Slums Photography changed the way history could be documented. Now, just being looking, anyone could step into a screenshot of history post-1850. Only three kids survived up to the twentieth century and one of them was Jacob. After 1895, Riis took very few photographs of his own. Jacob Riis was an incredibly influential pioneer of photojournalism. As a pioneer of investigative photojournalism, Riis would show others that through photography they can make a change.American photographer and sociologist Lewis Hine is a good example of someone who followed in Riis' footsteps.. Lantern slide box owned by Jacob Riis. He had a large family with fourteen children other than him. New Deal reformers like New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and Parks Commissioner Robert Moses perpetuated Riis’s name at the Jacob Riis Houses on the Lower East Side and Jacob Riis Park in Far Rockaway, Queens. He was born on 3 rd May 1849 in Ribe, Denmark. Jacob Riis, who immigrated to the United States in 1870, worked as a police reporter who focused largely on uncovering the conditions of these tenement slums. Education and public programs are continuing online. Soon Riis began taking photos on his own, letting commercial firms do the darkroom work. Jacob Riis was a American-Danish journalist, social reformer as well as a documentary photographer. By the 1890s, photos were the new medium for documenting history, leaving scraps of paper with vague details behind. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography. He contributed significantly to the cause of urban reform in America at the turn of the twentieth century. A pioneer in the use of photography as an agent of social reform, Jacob Riis immigrated to the United States in 1870. I would like to receive the following email newsletter: Learn about our exhibitions, school, events, and more. Jacob Riis. ICP's museum is temporarily closed for installation. You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us, or by contacting us at, We use MailChimp as our marketing automation platform. Jacob Riis, in full Jacob August Riis, (born May 3, 1849, Ribe, Denmark—died May 26, 1914, Barre, Massachusetts, U.S.), American newspaper reporter, social reformer, and photographer who, with his book How the Other Half Lives (1890), shocked the conscience of his readers with factual descriptions of slum conditions in New York City. Riis’s earliest photographs were taken in association with amateurs Richard Hoe Lawrence and Dr. Henry G. Piffard. He used photographs of squalid conditions in the poorest parts of New York City to convince middle-class audiences of the need for action. Gift of Roger William Riis (90.13.2.50) (053.00.00), Jacob Riis. 1895 Frances Benjamin Johnston, who photographed presidents from Harrison to Taft, took this portrait of Jacob Riis about 1903. Who Was Jacob Riis? Jacob August Riis, ca. Riis’s pioneering use of flash photography brought to light even the darkest parts of the city. He steadily publicized the crises in poverty, housing and education at the height of European immigration, when the Lower East Side became the most densely populated place on Earth. He was the first reformer to recognize the potential in new methods of low-light flash photography. All the photographers who snap shots of brutal realities today are carrying on his legacy. He used photography to document the appalling … Riis’s lecture notes describe the first flashlight photographs taken by the trio, who also posed this “tramp” in a “yard” only a block from Riis’s Mulberry Street newspaper office. In 1888, Riis left the Tribune to work for the Evening Sun, where he began making the photographs that would be reproduced as engravings and halftones in How the Other Half Lives, his celebrated work documenting the living conditions of the poor, which was published to widespread acclaim in 1890. This Web site discusses the work of two turn-of-the-century documentary photographers. Tramp in Mulberry Street Yard, 1887–1888. One of them was Jacob Riis – a Danish-American social reformer, “muckraking” journalist and social documentary photographer. Jacob August Riis (1849–1914) was a journalist and social reformer in late 19th and early 20th century New York. Museum of the City of New York (084.00.00), Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/jacob-riis/photographer.html#obj084, The portrait of the tramp, taken by Riis, Lawrence, and Piffard, was among the group of images that Riis was invited to show at the monthly lantern slide meeting of the Society of Amateur Photographers of New York in January 1888. To number his negatives and create this inventory, admission, and more he significantly., he was devoting much more time to politics and writing for national magazines of paper with vague behind! Of low-light flash photography collect information about how you interact with our website and allow us to remember you 90.13.4.94. 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