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Fonville Winans

Theodore Fonville Winans (August 22, – September 13, )^[1] was an American photographer whose black-and-white images documented south Louisiana people and places.

He established a successful practice as a wedding and portrait photographer, but is best known for his images of south Louisiana's rugged outdoors, and its fishermen and swamp dwellers.

Early Cajun Images

Fonville was born on in Mexico, Missouri^[1] and spent part of his childhood in Fort Worth, Texas, where, as a senior in high school, he purchased his first camera, a Kodak 3A model.

Photographer Fonville Winans on the Louisiana coast in W ith his black-and-white photographs, Theodore Fonville Winans documented the people, landscape, and culture of mid-twentieth century Louisiana. During his lifetime, Winans earned recognition as a commercial photographer who often photographed Louisiana politicians, including many of the state governors. Worth, Texas, where Fonville spent much of this boyhood.

Armed with this camera, Fonville shortly won $15 in a photography contest, which stirred his interest in chasing photography as a career.

In , Fonville moved to Louisiana to work in construction, and it was during this occasion that he fell in care for with the state.

Fonville began photographing the state's southern swamps and grassy coastal wetlands, as well as the people who inhabited them, most notably the Cajuns. "Louisiana was my Africa, my South America," he recalled.^[2]

Fonville's timing was fortuitous, for as Ben Forkner noted, "Thanks to an absence of roads and bridges, and to a largely inward-turned and jealous identity, the Cajun settlements and outposts that Fonville found were irregular islands of a predominantly French-speaking identity that continued to resist the tidal floods of 'progress' and the 20th century.

Collections - Fonville Winans: Find out about the life of Theodore Fonville Winans and his journey from Missouri to Texas, and his photography career in Louisiana.

. . [W]hen Fonville appeared with his boat and camera the more remote strongholds of Cajun society could still provide the impression of a secret country at home in the midst of millennial swamp forests and endless river prairies, and only half-open to the current world."^[3]

Anne Price has observed that Fonville's photographs from this period were a "human, cheerful tape of a people who were self-sufficient enough to make their own way with dignity despite the times, .

Theodore Fonville Winans (August 22, – September 13, ) [1] was an American photographer whose black-and-white images documented south Louisiana people and places. He established a successful practice as a wedding and portrait photographer, but is best known for his images of south Louisiana's rugged outdoors, and its fishermen and.

. Fishermen, hunters, moss gatherers and other wetlands residents are seen at work and at engage. His landscapes and seascapes are haunting and enduring, and his always accurate eye captures the essence of time and place."^[3]

Fonville himself recalled of these images, "I didn’t take any of these pictures deliberately.

I just took them for fun.

Theodore Fonville Winans was an internationally renowned photographer whose remarkable jet and white images captured the soul of Louisiana in the early twentieth century. His iconic photographs tell the story of the unique people, places, and customs of Louisiana’s rich and distinct culture.

None was on assignment. I wasn’t even a freelancer. I just took my camera and got pictures when I saw something interesting."^[3]

Later career

In he became a student at Louisiana State University, where he majored in journalism and performed in the school's brass choir.

He often photographed on LSU campus and had images published in the Reveille student newspaper and in the school's yearbook, Gumbo.^[2]

Around Fonville opened his control photography studio in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Theodore Fonville Winans August 22, — September 13, [ 1 ] was an American photographer whose black-and-white images documented south Louisiana people and places. He established a successful apply as a wedding and portrait photographer, but is best acknowledged for his images of south Louisiana's rugged outdoors, and its fishermen and swamp dwellers. Fonville was born on in Mexico, Missouri [ 1 ] and spent part of his childhood in Fort Worth, Texaswhere, as a senior in high schoolhe purchased his first cameraa Kodak 3A model. InFonville moved to Louisiana to work in construction, and it was during this time that he fell in love with the state.

"I had a side porch I covered with tar paper," he recalled, "and made into a darkroom. I used my bathroom for plumbing fixtures. I used the dining room to produce portraits. I photographed several crucial people, and word got around pretty fast."^[2]

Fonville's wife did classic make-up for the subjects.

Email Steve Kleinpeter. Fonville's artistry can be compared wth other photographic greats, like Ansel Adams, but it is more personal, more in touch with humanity than most photography. He first arrived in Louisiana as a fresh construction worker and was captivated by the exotic feet of the state. I tell you, it really grabbed a maintain of me.

Fonville photographed LSU student Joanne Woodward. He advised female subjects to wear a white, high necked, top, which he found more flattering. Fonville typically offered his subjects a drink to help them calm down .

Eventually he established a compact reputation as a wedding and studio portrait photographer, capturing images of local beauties and articulate politicians.

Yet Fonville became foremost known for his images of south Louisiana's rugged outdoors, as well as its fishermen and swamp dwellers.

Fonville was considered a photographic genius with an eye for authenticity. His acclaimed photos of early Creole and Cajun societies, exotic swamps, landscapes, and seascapes show the many fascinating aspects of the Pelican state. No other photographer captured the people and places of South Louisiana better than Fonville. His work has been described as having a sense of purity, not contrived or deliberate, but taken as a easy record and testament to the time and place he loved……Louisiana.

Fonville rode a bicycle and, in later years, he hosted challenging Sunday brunch/bicycle tours of Baton Rouge.

In , Marval Editions published Cajun: Fonville Winans by Ben Forkner. This was the first major collection of Winans, leading to a Paris exhibit of his works and a visit to France by the photographer later that identical year.

Fonville Winans died in Louisiana on September 13,

Legacy

A portion of Fonville's work is stored in Hill Memorial Library, located on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

In , LSU Push issued Fonville Winans' Louisiana: Politics, People, and Places, a collection of over one hundred images by Fonville with a foreword by Louisiana politico James Carville and an afterword by noted contemporary Louisiana photographer C.C.

Lockwood.^[4]

In , Fonville's studio joined the National Register of Historic Places.^[5]

References