Disappeared

A new photography exhibition at the Booth Museum examines the final days of the Berryessa Valley.

Opening November 11 at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, is Dorothea Lange & Pirkle Jones: Death of a Valley, a photography exhibition that examines the final year of Northern California’s Berryessa Valley before it was permanently submerged beneath the lake created by the new Monticello Dam. The original photographs were part of a 1956 collaborative project for Lifemagazine by Dorothea Lange and Bay Area photographer Pirkle Jones.

Pirkle Jones (1914-2009), Fire is Part of the Demolition Process, from Death of a Valley, 1956, selenium toned silver gelatin print, 11 x 14”. © University of California, Santa Cruz, Print courtesy of Lumiére Gallery, Atlanta.

Pirkle Jones (1914-2009), Town of Monticello Early Spring 1956, from Death of a Valley, 1956, selenium toned silver gelatin print, 16 x 24”. © University of California, Santa Cruz, print courtesy of Lumiére Gallery, Atlanta.

“Lange and Jones spent about a year photographing the Berryessa Valley. They began with scenic landscapes and portraits of people living, working, and finally, moving. Other scenes included the town’s last Memorial Day, the final round-up, and the last harvest. Heavy machinery and government workers are seen stripping the valley of buildings, landmarks and vegetation,” the museum notes. “In the closing images, the valley fills with water. The results were too unsettling to Life. They declined to publish the essay and returned the rights to Lange and Jones. In 1960, the journal Aperture published 30 of the photos as Death of a Valley. These images were later exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. Seeing the valley as a symbol of an idyllic and disappearing America, Lange and Jones concluded, ‘The old life in this small valley was part of California legend. We attempted to reveal this and, in addition, lightly remind our viewers of the prices of progress.’”

Dorothea Lange (1895-1965), Albert A. McKenzie Storekeeper, inside Cook, McKenzie and Son Store, from Death of a Valley, 1956, silver gelatin print, 12¾ x 12¾”. © Oakland Museum of California, Print courtesy of Lumiére Gallery, Atlanta.

The exhibition will remain on view in Georgia through June 9, 2024. For more information, visit www.boothmuseum.org. —