Construction Worker on a Cigarette Break

Doris Ulmann (1882-1934) was an American photographer known for her portraits of people in the rural South. She was born in New York City and studied at the Ethical Culture School, Columbia University, and the Clarence H. White School of Photography. Ulmann's photographs were often taken with large-format cameras and she used natural light to capture her subjects in a way that was both honest and sensitive. She travelled extensively throughout the South, photographing people of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, including African Americans, Native Americans and Appalachian whites. Her work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. After her death, her photographs were donated to the University of Oregon and are now part of the Doris Ulmann Photographs Collection.