David Plowden

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David Plowden
Born(1932-10-09)October 9, 1932
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedMay 4, 2026(2026-05-04) (aged 93)
Evanston, Illinois, U.S.
Known forPhotography
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship
1968
Websitedavidplowden.com

David Plowden (October 9, 1932 – May 4, 2026) was an American photographer who made historical documentary photography of urban cities, steam trains, American farmlands, and small towns.[1][2] He produced 20 books and his work is held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Center for Creative Photography, George Eastman House, Library of Congress, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, and Smithsonian Institution. Plowden was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1968.

Early life and education

Plowden was born on October 9, 1932, in Boston, and grew up primarily in New York City.[3][4][5] After spending time on his family's farm in Putney, Vermont, during summers, he moved there in 1940 and graduated from the Putney School in 1951.[6] As early as age ten or eleven, he began taking photos of the Central Vermont Railway's train coming into Putney.[6] He graduated from Yale College in 1955.[7]

Career

After working for the Great Northern Railway in 1959, he studied photography under Minor White and Nathan Lyons, and was an assistant to O. Winston Link and George Meluso.[8][9]

Plowden held teaching positions at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Institute of Design (1977-1985),[6] the University of Iowa's School of Journalism (1985-1988), the University of Baltimore's Institute for Publications Design (1990-1991) and Grand Valley State University (1998-1990 and 1991-2007).[3][10]

In 1995, Plowden agreed to transfer the entire archive of his notes, negatives and prints to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University at the end of his career.[11]

In 2017, the Milwaukee School of Engineering Grohmann Museum exhibited his Steel: The Cycle of Industry collection and repackaged a photo book of the same name, which chronicles steel from its start as taconite pellet mines in Minnesota to the blast furnaces of Gary, Indiana, and from its shipment across the Great Lakes to the demise of the mills in places like Lackawanna, New York.[12]

Plowden's photographs are characterized by their stark detail. In the steel mill photos, he attributed this to shots he would overexpose and underdevelop.[12] On his subject matter—steam engines, small town Main Streets, steel mills—Plowden said: "I have always felt that I have been standing in the middle ground between two eras, with one eye on the 19th century and the other on the 21st ... all across America we have left abandoned, like carcasses after the feast, that which only yesterday was state-of-the-art invention."[13]

Selected exhibitions

  • In 1985, the Chicago Historical Society exhibited 148 of his photos as The Industrial Landscape of Chicago, documenting industrial change from Gary, Indiana to suburban Elk Grove Village, Illinois.[14]
  • The Milwaukee School of Engineering's Grohmann Museum hosted several exhibitions of his work, including Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden in 2011, Bridges: The Spans of North America - Photographs by David Plowden in 2013, STEEL: The Cycle of Industry by David Plowden in 2017, David Plowden's Portraits of Work in 2018, and David Plowden: The Architecture of Agriculture in 2023.[15]
  • In 2019, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center in Vermont exhibited David Plowden: Bridges.[16]
  • In 2024, the Middlebury College Museum of Art exhibited David Plowden: Portraits of America.[5]
  • David Plowden’s Iowa opened on the day of his death, May 4, 2026 at the Sioux City Art Center.[17][6]

Personal life and death

In July 1977, he married Sandra (née Schoellkopf).[18] He lived in Winnetka, Illinois.[3] Plowden died from a heart attack in Evanston, Illinois, on May 4, 2026, at the age of 93.[19][20]

Publications

Publications with photographs and text by Plowden

  • Farewell to Steam. Stephen Greene Press, 1966.
    • Bonanza Edition, 1968.
  • Lincoln and His America. Viking, 1970.
    • Book-of-the-Month Club, 1971. Alternate selection.
  • The Hand of Man on America. Smithsonian, 1971.
    • Paperback edition. Chatham, 1973.
    • Second printing. 1974.
  • Floor of the Sky: The Great Plains. Sierra Club, 1972. (ISBN 9780871560636)
  • Commonplace. E. P. Dutton, 1974.
  • Bridges: The Spans of North America. Viking, 1974.
    • Macmillan Book Club, 1975. Alternate selection.
    • Reprinted edition, hardcover, New York City: W. W. Norton, 1984.
    • Reprinted edition, paperback, New York City: W. W. Norton, 1988.
  • Tugboat. Macmillan, 1976.
  • Steel. Viking, 1981.
  • An American Chronology. Viking, 1982. With an introduction by David G. McCullough (ISBN 9780670117192, OL 3510745M)
  • Industrial Landscape. New York City: W. W. Norton, 1985,
  • A Time of Trains. New York City: W. W. Norton, 1987,
  • A Sense of Place. New York City: W. W. Norton, 1988,
  • End of an Era: The Last of the Great Lakes Steamboats. New York City: W. W. Norton, 1992,
  • Small Town America. Harry N. Abrams, 1994. With an introduction by David G. McCullough,
  • Imprints: A Retrospective. Bulfinch, 1997. With an introduction by Alan Trachtenberg.
  • Bridges: the Spans of North America. Revised Edition. New York City: W. W. Norton, 2002.
  • David Plowden: The American Barn. New York City: W. W. Norton, 2003.
  • A Handful of Dust: Disappearing America. New York City: W. W. Norton, 2006.
  • David Plowden: Vanishing Point: Fifty Years of Photography. New York City: W. W. Norton, 2007. With an introduction by Steve Edwards.
  • Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden. New York City: W. W. Norton, 2010.[21]
  • David Plowden’s Iowa. Humanities Iowa, 2012. (ISBN 978-0615578354)
  • Heartland: The Plains and The Prairie. New York City: W.W. Norton, 2013.[22]

Publications solely containing photographs by Plowden

  • The Freeway in the City. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1968.
  • Wayne County: The Aesthetic Heritage of a Rural Area. Publishing Center for Cultural Resources, 1979. Commissioned by New York State Council for the Arts.
  • The States and the Nation series. New York City: W. W. Norton and the American Association for State and Local History, 1977–1981. New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont editions.
  • A Place of Sense. University of Iowa, 1988.

Publications with photographs by Plowden and text co-authored with another

Awards

Collections

Plowden's work is held in the following permanent collections:

References

  1. "Imprints: The Photographs of David Plowden | Buffalo AKG Art Museum". buffaloakg.org. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  2. WGVU Presents | David Plowden: Light, Shadow and Form. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2025 – via www.pbs.org.
  3. Edwards, Steve. "David Plowden, Photographer, 1932-2026". David Plowden, Photographer. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
  4. Rosenberg, David (February 9, 2015). "The Hidden Beauty of American Train Travel". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  5. "David Plowden: Portraits of America | Middlebury College Museum of Art". www.middlebury.edu. January 26, 2024. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  6. "David Plowden, a photographer who saw poetry in railways, dies at 93". Chicago Tribune. May 28, 2026. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  7. "David Plowden: An American Photographer". Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. January 15, 2010. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  8. "Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden – Warner Transportation Museum". transportation.museums.ua.edu. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  9. "Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden – Center for Railroad Photography & Art". Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  10. "Detailed Biography". David Plowden, Photographer. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
  11. "David Plowden: Photographs and Papers". Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. October 7, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  12. "Steel: The Cycle of Industry opens Jan. 20 at Grohmann Museum | News". Milwaukee School of Engineering - MSOE. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  13. Industrial Landscape. W. W. Norton. 1985.
  14. "DOCUMENTING THE INDUSTRIAL FACE OF CHICAGO". Chicago Tribune. April 12, 1985. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  15. "Exhibitions & Events". Milwaukee School of Engineering - MSOE. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  16. Museum, Brattleboro (June 5, 2019). "David Plowden: Bridges | Brattleboro Museum & Art Center". Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  17. "David Plowden's Iowa - Sioux City Art Center". siouxcityartcenter.org. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  18. "Sandra Schoellkopf Is Bride of David Plowden Sandra Owen Wed". The New York Times. July 9, 1977. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  19. Williams, Alex (June 13, 2026). "David Plowden, Who Photographed a Disappearing America, Dies at 93". The New York Times. Retrieved June 13, 2026.
  20. "David Plowden, Noted Documentary Photographer and Author, Dies at 93". Railfan & Railroad Magazine. May 14, 2026. Retrieved May 14, 2026.
  21. "Railroad Photographs of David Plowden on display at Naples Depot - Naples Florida Weekly". Naples Florida Weekly -. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  22. online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304069604579153451960024232.html
  23. "David Plowden". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  24. "Bibliography of Books". David Plowden, Photographer. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
  25. "David Plowden". The Art Institute of Chicago. 1932. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  26. "David Plowden". Center for Creative Photography. November 22, 2019. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  27. "David Plowden | People | George Eastman Museum". collections.eastman.org. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  28. "David Plowden collection : Photographs of architecture, landscapes, and transportation in the United States and Canada". Library of Congress.
  29. "Works – David Plowden – Artists/Makers – The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art". nelson-atkins.org. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  30. "David Plowden North American Bridge Photographs | NMAH.AC.1019 | SOVA, Smithsonian Institution". sova.si.edu. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  31. "David Plowden Steel Manufacturing Photographs | NMAH.AC.1020 | SOVA, Smithsonian Institution". sova.si.edu. Retrieved March 1, 2025.