Mike Disfarmer

Mike Disfarmer (* probably in 1882 as Michael Meyer ; † 1959 in Heber Springs , Arkansas ) was an American photographer who was known for his realistic and expressive portraits of residents of his hometown of Heber Springs, Arkansas. Disfarmer's paintings, which depict the lives of people in the rural United States from the 1920s to 1950s, were not rediscovered until 14 years after his death and subsequently became more widely known as works of art.

life and work

Portrait of Mike Disfarmers ^Note external web link
Heber Springs, Cleburne County portrait photographer Michael Disfarmer.

Disfarmer's exact origin is unknown. The year of birth is given both as 1882 and 1884; a service card from the Second World War issued in Heber Springs under the name "Mike Disfarmer" lists August 16, 1882 as the date and Daviess , Indiana as the place of birth . Disfarmer's parents were immigrants from Germany and initially settled in Stuttgart , Arkansas. After the death of his father, a rice farmer, Disfarmer's mother and children moved to Heber Springs in Cleburne County , where Mike entered into a business partnership with a photographer. After a tornado destroyed his mother's house, Disfarmer bought his own studio with an attached apartment, in which he lived and worked until his death.

In the course of his 40 years as an independent photographer, Disfarmer earned his living with portrait photography. He dropped his original German family name "Meyer". Probably in deliberate differentiation from his origins and his rural reality, he created the name "Dis-farmer" (English roughly for "No farmer"; probably alluding to the fact that the name " Meier " in German often refers to a Existence as a (small) farmer). Disfarmer lived secluded, single, and was viewed as eccentric by the residents of Heber Springs.

Photographs ^Note: selection of external web links
Older Couple Sitting, Man with Straw Hat Sailor, His New Wife, and Her Family Men in overalls and hats Man and Boy with Arms at Sides Two Young Women in Flower Dresses

Disfarmer's portraits were created as so-called “penny portraits” - they were low-paid commissioned work for the residents of the small town of Heber Springs and were mostly passed on to family members as souvenir photos. All surviving photos are studio recordings. No copies have survived of the few recordings made outside of Disfarmer's studio.

The photographs represent either individuals or groups of people. Stylistically, the photographs are characterized by a strict realism, the simplicity of which increases towards the end of Disfarmer's work. The people depicted were often taken in their Sunday best, although a series of photos depicts the people portrayed as if they had just come from field work. Disfarmer's biographers Eileen Turan and Keith Melton describe the photos as "a collection of images of ordinary people that depict the essence of a time, a place and the people who lived in it."

Work editions

Julia Scully, Peter Miller: Disfarmer: The Heber Springs Portraits, 1939–1946. Danbury, NH 1976.
Alan Trachtenberg, Toba Tucker: Heber Springs Portraits: Continuity and Change in the World Disfarmer Photographed. Albuquerque 1996.
Steven Kasher (Ed.): Original Disfarmer Photographs. New York 2005.

literature

Eileen Turan, Keith Melton: Michael Disfarmer (1882-1959). In: The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. ( encyclopediaofarkansas.net , last updated December 8, 2011, last accessed September 16, 2012).

Web links

disfarmer.com - commercial website where prints of Disfarmer's photos can be ordered; the site contains a gallery with 171 of Disfarmer's works.
disfarmer.org - Website of the Disfarmer Project , also with a selection of Disfarmer's photos available for purchase. The Disfarmer Project aims to research the life and work of the photographer. It also serves to educate residents of Cleburne County of the potential value of Disfarmer's works in their possession.

Individual evidence

^ Turan, Melton: Michael Disfarmer (1882-1959). In: The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. encyclopediaofarkansas.net , last accessed September 16, 2012.
↑ Turan, Melton: Michael Disfarmer. In: The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. “ Collection of images of ordinary rural people that captures the essence of a time, a place, and the people who occupied it. ”

^Note

personal data
SURNAME	Disfarmer, Mike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Meyer, Michael (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American photographer
DATE OF BIRTH	uncertain: 1882
DATE OF DEATH	1959
Place of death	Heber Springs , Arkansas

[1] Turan, Melton: Michael Disfarmer (1882-1959). In: The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. encyclopediaofarkansas.net , last accessed September 16, 2012.

[2] Turan, Melton: Michael Disfarmer. In: The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. “ Collection of images of ordinary rural people that captures the essence of a time, a place, and the people who occupied it. ”