Jack Delano, one of the few surviving members of the group of photographers who fanned out throughout the United States in the 1930s and '40s on behalf of the New Deal's Farm Security Administration and produced what have become iconic images of the Great Depression, died Aug. 12 at a hospital in Puerto Rico. He was 83 and had lived in Puerto Rico since 1946.
The cause was kidney failure, said his editor at the Smithsonian Institution Press, Amy Pastan.Although he was not as well known as the other FSA photographers, Delano created images of people and places of surpassing elegance and empathy.
In one striking photograph, taken in 1941 in Greene County, Ga., a young, somber woman stands by a doorway in the foreground, while beyond her other figures sit or stand by other doorways, each picked out by gentle light.
Puerto Rico, both the place and the people, entranced him more than any other place he had visited. He managed the government-run television station, made films about the island, drew cartoons and composed music for ballet, orchestra, chamber groups, voice and chorus.
An exhibit of his work, "Contrasts: 40 Years of Change and Continuity in Puerto Rico," organized by the Smithsonian, has been traveling to various American cities.