Caroline Valenta

☆ Save On Wikipedia ↗
Caroline Valenta
Born(1924-05-27)May 27, 1924
Shiner, Texas, U.S.
DiedFebruary 20, 2013(2013-02-20) (aged 88)
Westhampton, New York, U.S.
Other nameCaroline Valenta Gatewood
OccupationsPhotographer, photojournalist

Caroline Valenta (May 27, 1924 – February 20, 2013) was an American photojournalist who worked at the Houston Post, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her photographs of the 1947 Texas City disaster.[1][2][3]

Early life and education

Valenta was born in 1924 in Shiner, Texas,[2] the daughter of John E. Valenta and Lillie Wacker Valenta.[4] Her father was a garage mechanic.[5] She attended the University of Houston,[6] but left in 1945, at the end of her senior year, to take a full-time staff photographer position at the Houston Post.[4] She drove a 1929 Ford Model A when she was a young woman, including on a 1945 vacation with two friends.[7] She attended a short course on news photography at Kent State University in 1946.[8]

Career

Valenta was the first woman photographer employed by the Houston Post,[1] where she worked for eight years starting in 1945.[2][9] Valenta's 1945 photograph of an America serviceman reuniting with his wife and young children at a train station was printed in newspapers nationwide, and won an award from Encyclopedia Britannica for non-war news photography.[5] In 1946 she had a publicized physical confrontation with three "camera shy" Texas Rangers at a courthouse.[10] She gained further international recognition and a Pulitzer Prize nomination in 1947, for her photographs of the Texas City disaster.[11][12] Another assignment involved capturing daily life in Seagoville Federal Prison.[13] Her work was included in the 1949 exhibition The Exact Instant at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.[14] She moved to New York in 1952, and worked for the New York Daily News[15] and various other publications.[1]

Personal life and legacy

Valenta married newspaper editor Worth Gatewood and had seven children.[16] She held a camera while giving birth in 1957, and photographed her own daughter's first moments.[1] She died from pancreatic cancer in Westhampton, New York, in 2013, at the age of 88.[1] Her work is included in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.[13]

References

  1. "Trailblazing Photojournalist Caroline Valenta Dies February 20". 27 East. The Express News Group. February 25, 2013. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  2. "Caroline Valenta". The Sag Harbor Express. March 8, 2013. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021.
  3. Kitchen, Patricia (February 26, 2013). "Pioneering photog Caroline Valenta dies". Newsday. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021.
  4. "Caroline Valenta, News Photographer". East Hampton Star. February 28, 2013. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  5. "'Daddy' Photo Wins Top Honor for Miss Valenta of the Post". The Houston Post. April 10, 1946. p. 1. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Local Young Lady Wins War Bond". Shiner Gazette. May 17, 1945. p. 1. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Caroline Valenta Featured on Vacation". Shiner Gazette. November 20, 1947. p. 1. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Caroline Valenta Attending News Photo School". Shiner Gazette. March 21, 1946. p. 1. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Gonzales, J. R. (June 16, 2009). "Caroline Valenta: In words and pictures". Bayou City History. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
  10. "Ranger Force Halts Caroline and Camera". Shiner Gazette. October 31, 1946. p. 1. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Faber, John (January 1, 1978). Great News Photos and the Stories Behind Them. Courier Corporation. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-486-23667-4.
  12. "Caroline Valenta's Disaster Pictures Featured Nationally". Shiner Gazette. May 1, 1947. p. 1. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Caroline Valenta: Works". The MFAH Collections. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
  14. "Caroline Valenta". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  15. Sweeney, Louise (September 23, 1962). "New Baby a Big Job". Daily News. p. 364. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Gatewoods Rate High Scholastically". Shiner Gazette. September 13, 1973. p. 5. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.