Harold Corsini (August 28, 1919 – January 1, 2008) was an American

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

. Harold Corsini was born to Italian immigrants in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and began his career there as a freelancer. A photo he took when he was about 16, an aerial shot of football players, is archived in the George Eastman Collection in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. He assisted

Arnold S. Eagle Arnold Eagle (1909 - October 25, 1992) was a Hungarian-American photographer and cinematographer, known for his socially concerned documentary photographs of the 1930s and 1940s. Life Eagle emigrated from Hungary to Brooklyn with his family in 1 ...

for three years as a photography teacher for the

National Youth Administration The National Youth Administration (NYA) was a New Deal agency sponsored by Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidency. It focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 25. It operated from June 26, 1935 to ...

. Corsini admired the work of

Roy Stryker Roy Emerson Stryker (November 5, 1893 – September 27, 1975) was an American economist, government official, and photographer. He headed the Information Division of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression, and launc ...

Farm Security Administration The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was a New Deal agency created in 1937 to combat rural poverty during the Great Depression in the United States. It succeeded the Resettlement Administration (1935–1937). The FSA is famous for its small but ...

photographers and aspired to the documentary style they practiced. He joined the

Photo League The Photo League was a cooperative of photographers in New York who banded together around a range of common social and creative causes. Founded in 1936, the League included some of the most noted American photographers of the mid-20th century amon ...

in 1938, "the only free camera club in New York City", whose members were socially concerned photographers. After a stint with

Life magazine ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

, in 1943 Corsini joined the

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...

documentary project under

, where he worked longer than any other photographer. In 1950, he accompanied Stryker to

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, and assisted him as head of the photographic department at the

Pittsburgh Photographic Library The Pittsburgh Photographic Library (PPL) is a photography repository held by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh of over 50,000 prints and negatives relating to history of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is also the name of the core coll ...

. There he chronicled the city's first Renaissance, which included redevelopment of the Point and construction of Gateway Center. He remained in Pittsburgh when the PPL disbanded to begin his own commercial photography business. Eventually became the official photographer for

U.S. Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in severa ...

. Corsini's work with U.S. Steel reflected the industry from labor to output, and included industrial and technical pieces. Corsini retired when he sold his studio in 1975, then joined the faculty at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

, where he taught for nine years. His photographic work is held, in addition to the Pittsburgh Photographic Library, by the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

Photographic Archives, the

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

Photo Collection, and the

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbur ...

. The

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

houses the Harold Corsini archives. He died on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

2008, aged 88, following a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

. He was survived by his wife, two children, and a brother.

Recent exhibitions (selection)

*November 4, 2011 - March 25, 201
"The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951"
at

Jewish Museum (New York) The Jewish Museum is an art museum and repository of cultural artifacts, housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in the former Felix M. Warburg House, along Museum Mile on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The first Jewish museum in the Unite ...

*February - April 200
"Iron & Steel"
at Keith De Lellis Gallery *May 13 – July 3, 198
"Roy Stryker: U.S.A., 1943–1950"
at

International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...

Books

* ''Carnegie Mellon: A Portrait'', photographs (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University, 1986).

References

* Nicholas Lemann (2002). "Harold Corsini's Photographs of the Early Days of Aramco," ''The New Yorker,'' v. 78 no. 8 (April 15, 2002) p. 72-3.

External links

Harold Raymond Corsini
at

Find A Grave Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fin ...

The Harold Corsini Photograph Collection
at the Archive Service Center,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corsini, Harold 1919 births 2008 deaths Carnegie Mellon University faculty American people of Italian descent Photographers from New York City Artists from Pittsburgh