Signs of Life

Peter Sekaer (1901-50) emerged as an artist in the company of Ben Shahn, Berenice Abbott, and Walker Evans. This book intends to show how he stepped from their benign shadows to build his own distinctive style. It is the first monograph to show the full range of his accomplishments. Sekaer's early work combines dispassionate images with others that show his concern and intuitive grasp of the human condition. Many of his most memorable photographs were made while fulfilling mundane assignments for various government agencies. Sekaer had none of the reformer's passion found in the works of Jacob Riis or Lewis Hine. His stance was more that of the artist/anthropologist, who delighted in recording the artifacts and gestures that defined American society in the 1930s.