Death Of A Valley
Photography by Dorothea Lange and Pirkle Jones
Now On View @ the Booth Museum, Cartersville GA
Until June 9, 2024
The Last Memorial Day, 1956, by Pirkle Jones
Featuring photographs by two of the 20th century’s most important photographers, Death of a Valley is a nearly 70-year-old story full of contemporary issues such as water policy, private property rights, land conservation and local governance vs. state and federal jurisdiction.
Dorothea Lange is famous for her social realist images, including the iconic Migrant Mother which many consider THE image of the Dustbowl and Great Depression era of the 1930s. In 1956 she convinced Life magazine to commission a photo essay documenting the last year of the Berryessa Valley, including the town of Monticello, roughly 80 miles northeast of San Francisco. The entire area was due to be submerged with the opening of the Monticello Dam and the creation of Lake Berryessa to provide water for irrigation and recreational purposes.
Lange then invited Ansel Adams protege Pirkle Jones to collaborate on the project. “The Berryessa Project was one of the most meaningful photographic experiences of my professional life. When Dorothea Lange, a friend, and colleague, invited me to collaborate on this project with her in 1956, I looked forward to the experience.” –Photographer Pirkle Jones.
The essay proved unsettling for Life, and they declined to publish it. In 1960, the photographic journal of the Aperture Foundation published thirty of the photos as an essay entitled “Death of a Valley.” These photographs were then exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and later at the Art Institute of Chicago. Since then, the project has been largely forgotten; until now. The Booth Museum exhibition, organized with Lumière of Atlanta and the Special Collections and Archives at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Robert Yellowlees Special Collection, will include over 80 images, most having never been exhibited before.
The exhibition runs from November 11, 2023, through June 9, 2024. The member opening will occur on Saturday, November 18, with gallery walks, a reception and two guest speakers. Pirkle Jones’ archivist, Jennifer McFarland, and Jessica Pigza, Associate Director of the Arts Library Special Collections at Yale University. They will discuss the making and legacy of Death of a Valley.
Featured in this exhibition is the work of Dorothea Lange & Pirkle Jones.
Select the image below to view their complete artist pages.
Dorothea Lange
Pirkle Jones
