Kosti Ruohomaa: The Photographer Poet

by Deanna Bonner-Ganter

Overview

Acclaimed photographer Kosti Ruohomaa is widely known for his photographs of hard scrabble Yankees in mid-century Maine. No one was more acutely aware than Ruohomaa that his work was capturing a way of life that was rapidly fading. Before his work in Maine, however, Ruohomaa started out with Disney, then went on to become a freelance photographer for the Black Star Agency, where he was a regular contributor to Life, National Geographic, Look, and Ladies Home Journal. His true passion, however, was documenting the lives of the people of Maine. In this biography by curator Deanna Bonner-Ganter, of the Maine State Museum, Kosti's life and work is made relevant and important to an audience that may be unfamiliar with his work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684751716
Publisher:	Down East Books
Publication date:	08/01/2023
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.05(w) x 8.77(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Deanna Bonner-Ganter is a curator of photography, art, and archives at the Maine State Museum. She has curated many art and photography exhibits and has received a grant from the Wyeth Endowment for her work with Kosti Ruohomaa. She lives in Lincolnville, Maine.

Table of Contents

Preface John G. Morris 13

Foreword: "Kosti Was Here" Craig Stevens 15

Introduction 19

I Beginnings: A Finnish Heritage 27

II Drawing Board to Lens: The California Years (1938-43) 65

III Tear Sheets 109

Return East to New York City (1943) 109

Black Star Publishing Company-A Brief History 114

Shaping the Professional 118

Time Inc., Life, Magazine Photojournalism and the Home Front 126

The American Society of Magazine Photographers 141

The Printed Image 143

IV Folkways and Folklore 159

V Freighter to Liverpool: Overseas Assignments (April-November 1948) 177

VI The Photographer Poet (1949) 191

VII Beloved Maine, My Hometown 205

VIII Andrew Wyeth of Cashing 231

IX Work: Close to the Land, Close to the Sea 245

X Surrealism into Abstraction, Black-and-White into Color 273

XI "Flower Throwers:" The Last Year (1961) 289

Appendix I Letter of Introduction to the Finnish People by Howard Chapnick 313

Appendix II Remembering Kosti: A Memoir by Alfred Gescheidt 316

"Maine" Kosti Ruohomaa 322

Appendix III Time Inc. Assignments 324

Appendix IV Exhibitions and Collections 331

Museum Holdings and Private Collections 337

Acknowledgments 341

Selected Bibliography 347

Index 354