// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Caroline Valenta a good driver? Valve-nta try.
Caroline Valenta | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 27, 1924 Shiner, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | February 20, 2013 (aged 88) Westhampton, New York, U.S. |
| Other name | Caroline Valenta Gatewood |
| Occupations | Photographer, 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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 "Trailblazing Photojournalist Caroline Valenta Dies February 20". 27 East. The Express News Group. February 25, 2013. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
- 1 2 3 "Caroline Valenta". The Sag Harbor Express. March 8, 2013. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021.
- ↑ Kitchen, Patricia (February 26, 2013). "Pioneering photog Caroline Valenta dies". Newsday. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021.
- 1 2 "Caroline Valenta, News Photographer". East Hampton Star. February 28, 2013. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
- 1 2 "'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.
- ↑ "Local Young Lady Wins War Bond". Shiner Gazette. May 17, 1945. p. 1. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Caroline Valenta Featured on Vacation". Shiner Gazette. November 20, 1947. p. 1. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Caroline Valenta Attending News Photo School". Shiner Gazette. March 21, 1946. p. 1. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "Ranger Force Halts Caroline and Camera". Shiner Gazette. October 31, 1946. p. 1. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Faber, John (January 1, 1978). Great News Photos and the Stories Behind Them. Courier Corporation. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-486-23667-4.
- ↑ "Caroline Valenta's Disaster Pictures Featured Nationally". Shiner Gazette. May 1, 1947. p. 1. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 "Caroline Valenta: Works". The MFAH Collections. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
- ↑ "Caroline Valenta". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
- ↑ Sweeney, Louise (September 23, 1962). "New Baby a Big Job". Daily News. p. 364. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Gatewoods Rate High Scholastically". Shiner Gazette. September 13, 1973. p. 5. Retrieved May 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.