Atascadero man’s photographs to be showcased at new Smithsonian museum

It has taken six years, but the work of Atascadero photographer Joseph “Joe” Schwartz finally will go on permanent display this fall at the Smithsonian Institution’s newest museum.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture — scheduled to open Sept. 24 in Washington, D.C. — is designed to be a place where visitors can “explore the story of America through the lens of the African-American experience,” according to founding director Lonnie Bunch.

Notably, the museum will showcase photos shot by Schwartz, a member of New York’s famed Photo League, who spent decades documenting the nation’s “have-nots,” including immigrants, women and people of color. An Atascadero resident for 25 years, he died in 2013, just a few months shy of his 100th birthday.

In the introduction to his 2000 book, “Folk Photography: Poems I’ve Never Written,” Schwartz explained the appeal of his subject matter.

“The streets are full of telling hieroglyphics … giving us a clearer understanding of past and present, folk strength struggling against tough and miserable enviromental odds,” he wrote, adding that the scenes he captured on film filled him with hope. “I’ve been crusading with ideas that most people are naturally cooperative, especially given favorable conditions.”

“He always had a passion for ordinary street folk because he felt he was one,” explained his daughter, Paula Motlo of Atascadero.

According to Motlo, the drive to feature Schwartz’s photos at the National Museum of African American History and Culture began in 2010, when museum curator Paul Gardullo came to the Central Coast to sift through the photographer’s archives. He also conducted an oral history with Schwartz that is housed in the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art.

“Dad could have been paid” for his original prints, Motlo said, but Schwartz instead decided to donate them.

Motlo said the museum’s collection now includes 178 prints of photographs taken by her father, whose photos number in the thousands.

One of her favorites is “Two’s a Team,” which depicts two boys — one white, one black — sharing a bench. “The interaction between the two boys is so innocent,” Motlo said, adding that the image of interracial friendship has graced the fence outside the musuem’s National Mall construction site for years.

In an email, Gardullo said the Schwartz photo collection “will be showcased in various ways through exhibits, in online platforms and in our own Center for African American Media Arts” on site and online.

“We do not have a stand-alone exhibition focused on Mr. Schwartz at this time,” he wrote, but added that the Atascadero man’s photos will be featured in the museum’s inaugural exhibitions and in its “Double Exposure” book series.

Gardullo wrote that Schwartz’s photos “provide a … vision of American life with a particular focus on documenting the lives of poor and working-class people for over 30 years.”

“The photography of Joe Schwartz helps us to remember a crucial past of interracial cooperation and understanding that has been shrouded from popular memory. One of people working, struggling, laughing and playing together,” Gardullo wrote. “We are indebted to Mr. Schwartz for his vision and creativity, and creating a record of the past that has been long forgotten with beauty and honesty.”

“He was really ahead of his time,” Motlo said of her dad.

Through the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Motlo said, her father’s “legacy will live on, and so many people will be able to see his work.” She hopes that exposure will help make him more of a household name.

Motlo plans to attend the weeklong celebration that will mark the museum’s opening. She wishes her dad could have tagged along, too.

“Even if he was lying in bed, he would have wanted to be there,” she said. “He would have adored all the energy.”

This story was originally published February 21, 2016 at 8:09 PM with the headline "Atascadero man’s photographs to be showcased at new Smithsonian museum."