Jack Delano: A Lonely Hunter

Having often named my Art Of The City posts after song lyrics or book titles, I'm always fascinated by the way in which references can cross genres and I recently landed upon Jack Delano's photography in this roundabout way. 

     I've loved the Thievery Corporation and David Byrne tune The Heart's A Lonely Hunter for a few years now, so when I realised that they named it after a 1940 Carson McCullers novel, I snapped that up. The latest Penguin Classics edition of the book carries a stylish crop of a photograph by Jack Delano. I didn't think much about it until I stumbled into Carter's Steam Fair in Victoria Park this weekend and the whole style of the fair reminded me of the book's cover. A quick Google and it turns out the photograph was from a series he did at the 1941 state fair in Rutland, Vermont, on assignment for the Farm Security Administration. You can see plenty more Delano images on the fantastic vintage photoblog Shorpy here, while my own fair photography begins on Art Of The City here.