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News Release SONOMA STATE
UNIVERSITY
University Affairs Office Rohnert Park, CA 94928-3609 (707) 664-2122 e-mail: |
ROHNERT PARK ó ìThe Heart Mountain Story: Photographs by Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel of the World War II Internment of Japanese Americansî is currently on exhibit in the Ruben Salazar Library, Sonoma State University, through May 22,1998. The exhibit, which premiered at the de Saisset Museum of Santa Clara University, is augmented by a display of photographs of Mieth and Hagel taken during their 40 year careers in photojournalism entitled Life Will Not Stand Still. These photos were loaned by Georgia Brown, long-time friend of Hansel and Otto.
This special showing is in memory of Hansel Mieth, who passed away on February 14, 1998, at the age of 88. She and her husband, Otto Hagel, who died in 1973, had been residents of Santa Rosa since 1941, when they purchased a ranch northeast of Santa Rosa which they called Singing Hills. It became a retreat for many photographers, artists and writers who were their friends, including Imogene Cummingham, Peter Stackpole, Dorothea Lange, Carl Mydans and Robert Capra. It was also a working ranch, providing a living for the Hagelís after they were black-listed in the 1950ís. Hansel Mieth was the second female photographer on the staff of Life magazine, while Otto Hagel was always a freelancer, with work in magazines such as Time, Fortune and Life. Mieth and Hagel suffered relative obscurity as artists, but their contemporaries and the historians who are rediscovering their work, speak to the enduring integrity of their work and their spirit and of their major contribution to the social-documentary photojournalism of this century.
The exhibit was organized to fulfill Hansel Miethís wish
that a wider audience know the story of Heart Mountain. In a recent
interview, Mieth stated, ìWhen I look at these pictures now, I
feel they are a group of pictures that speak for themselves. And, my
understanding and love go out to those people who were interned
there.î Mamoru Inouye, guest curator, is
a life-long resident of Los Gatos, California, except for the three
and one half years his family was interned at Heart Mountain
Relocation Center in Wyoming. After earning a masterís degree
from Stanford in 1953, he was employed for 40 years as an aerospace
research scientist.
The library is open during the week from 8 a.m. to midnight except on
Friday when it closes at 5 p.m. Weekend hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
on Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. on Sunday. During spring break, April
11-19, the library will be closed on weekends and at night during the
week. Call (707) 664-2595 for a recorded message of the library
hours.
Sonoma State University is located at 1801 E. Cotati Ave. in
Rohnert Park. For general information about the exhibit, call (707)
664-2861.
A Parking fee of $1.50 (six quarters) is required in all general
lots, Monday-Thursday until 10 p.m., Friday until 5 p.m. Reserved
parking by permit only.
