Charles Krutch

Charles Krutch (1887 – October 27, 1981) was a photographer in Tennessee.[1] He was nicknamed the Corot of the South (Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot) for his soft color work.[2] His work is in a collection at the Museum of Modern Art.[3]

Krutch was born in Knoxville, Tennessee.[4] His brother Joseph Krutch became an author and professor of literature at Columbia University.[5] His uncle, Charles Christopher Crutch (1849–1934), painted the Smoky Mountains.[5][6]

Krutch succeeded Lewis Hine as photographer at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The agency paid the independently wealthy Krutch, an aspiring photographer, $2,500 a year.[7] He had taken pictures for the Knoxville News-Sentinel.[8] He received accolades from The New York Times and was recruited by another government agency to do a series of photos for its syphilis campaign.[8]

He retired from the TVA in 1954 after twenty years at the federal utility as a photographer and head of its graphic arts department.[5]

Upon his death in 1981, he bequeathed land to the city of Knoxville to create a “quiety retreat for the pleasure and health of the public.”[9] Krutch Park now hosts a sculpture garden maintained by the Dogwood Arts Foundation, which changes the sculptures twice per year. The park is also a meeting point for social activism.

References
  1. "The Artist With a Camera". TVA.com.
  2. "Higher Ground : A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee".
  3. "Charles Krutch". The Museum of Modern Art.
  4. TVA photography. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781617035265 – via Google Books.
  5. "Charles Krutch, Tennessean; Photographed T.V.A. Growth". The New York Times. October 28, 1981.
  6. "Krutch Park".
  7. Sampsell-Willmann, Kate (May 5, 2009). Lewis Hine as Social Critic. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604733686 – via Google Books.
  8. Authority, United States Congress Joint Committee to Investigate Tennessee Valley (May 5, 1939). "Investigation of the Tennessee Valley Authority: Hearings Before the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, Congress of the United States, Seventy-fifth Congress, Third Session, Pursuant to Public Resolution No. 83, Creating a Special Joint Congressional Committee to Make an Investigation of the Tennessee Valley Authority ..." U.S. Government Printing Office – via Google Books.
  9. "Krutch Park Historical Marker".
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