HINE LEWIS W (1874 1940) Spinner Cotton Mill Augusta Georgia

Sale 2208 - Lot 68

Price Realized: $ 26,400

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 12,000 - $ 18,000

HINE, LEWIS W. (1874-1940)
"Spinner, Cotton Mill, Augusta, Georgia." Silver contact print, 4 1/2x6 1/2 inches (11.4x16.5 cm.), with the "Hine Photo Company, Yonkers, N.Y.," "N," and "16" hand stamps; and a numeric notation "490," in pencil, in Hine's hand, on verso. 1909

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Additional Details

The "N" hand stamp references photographs made for the National Child Labor Committee and the "16" hand stamp refers to Hine's cataloguing process.
Acquired from a private New York dealer in 1991.
The Photograph and the American Dream 1840-1940, 75.

Lewis W. Hine's imagery reflects both fine art and documentary influences. A consummate photojournalist who insisted on making pictures that were "100% pure," each image was reenforced with data he compiled about the child's personal background and work history.

His pictures of young girls working in mills are particularly heart wrenching. The idea that kids worked sunrise to sunset in a harsh environment such as this one, operating loud and dangerous machinery, and being paid a pittance for the efforts, reflects the cruel reality premature workers endured.

The child in this photograph faces the camera directly, with an expression that is calm, straightforward and unresigned. While the bib of her dress is stained and tattered her carefully combed hair, highlighted with a neat little bow, is a delicate touch that symbolizes her innocence and femininity. She is framed by converging lines of oversized machinery, a point into which her life literally vanishes.

In 1904, the National Child Labor Committee was organized by socially concerned citizens and politicians, and was chartered by Congress in 1907. From 1908 to 1918, photographer Hine documented numerous gross violations of laws protecting young children. Challenging hostile managers by posing as a bible salesman, Hine gained entry to factories and mills, shooting children in large groups and when lucky, singly.

Throughout America, local child labor laws were often ignored. On a national level, progress to protect children stalled as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled several times that child labor laws under question were unconstitutional. A subsequent attempt to pass an amendment to the U.S. Constitution failed.

This poignant photograph appeared in The Wall Street Journal to advertise "Photography and The American Dream" at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The tagline read: "At one point in America's history, being a kid was a job in itself."