Alex Benjamin
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Until January 24th at the Joseph Bellows Gallery, 7661 Girard Avenue, La Jolla, California
Absolutely beautiful photographs
From the press release:
Joseph Bellows Gallery is pleased to present, LeRoy Robbins: New Deal Photographs. The exhibition runs from December 9th to January 16th, 2026, in the gallery’s Atrium space. The show will feature vintage photographs of California taken in the 1930s while the photographer worked for the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project, during the New Deal era, documenting the economic and social impact of the Great Depression. The New Deal set up a number of ambitious projects, with different administrators and constituencies, but which functioned together to give comprehensive support and encouragement to art and artists. The largest and most famous of these, the Works Progress Administration's Federal Arts Project (WPA/FAP) which was active from 1935 through 1943, sought to aid artists by employing them to focus on large cities where most already lived.
In 1936, LeRoy Robbins became part of the Federal Arts Project at the invitation of Edward Weston, joining a group of California photographers that included Edward Weston, Brett Weston, Sonya Noskowiak, William Abbenseth, Nacho Bravo, Hy Hirsch, and others. This talented group of photographers stood out from other FAP groups in the state, which focused primarily on the photo-documentation of public artworks and other undertakings of the Federal Arts Project. Robbins and his contemporaries displayed a deep commitment to their subject’s form and beauty, and an attention to more understated subjects. Their photographs were in many ways the beginning of a new synthesis in photography - one between aesthetic consideration and social concern.
Absolutely beautiful photographs
LeRoy Robbins - New Deal Photographs - Exhibitions - Joseph Bellows Gallery
Joseph Bellows Gallery was established in 1998. The gallery maintains an inventory of important vintage and contemporary photographs, with a special interest in American work from the 1970s. The gallery's program features rotating solo and group exhibitions of both 20th Century and contemporary...
From the press release:
Joseph Bellows Gallery is pleased to present, LeRoy Robbins: New Deal Photographs. The exhibition runs from December 9th to January 16th, 2026, in the gallery’s Atrium space. The show will feature vintage photographs of California taken in the 1930s while the photographer worked for the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project, during the New Deal era, documenting the economic and social impact of the Great Depression. The New Deal set up a number of ambitious projects, with different administrators and constituencies, but which functioned together to give comprehensive support and encouragement to art and artists. The largest and most famous of these, the Works Progress Administration's Federal Arts Project (WPA/FAP) which was active from 1935 through 1943, sought to aid artists by employing them to focus on large cities where most already lived.
In 1936, LeRoy Robbins became part of the Federal Arts Project at the invitation of Edward Weston, joining a group of California photographers that included Edward Weston, Brett Weston, Sonya Noskowiak, William Abbenseth, Nacho Bravo, Hy Hirsch, and others. This talented group of photographers stood out from other FAP groups in the state, which focused primarily on the photo-documentation of public artworks and other undertakings of the Federal Arts Project. Robbins and his contemporaries displayed a deep commitment to their subject’s form and beauty, and an attention to more understated subjects. Their photographs were in many ways the beginning of a new synthesis in photography - one between aesthetic consideration and social concern.
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