Photographer

Russell Lee

1903–1986

Russell Lee worked for the Farm Security Administration with a patient eye for crowds. At a San Angelo rodeo he turned away from the arena and caught one man laughing. At the Pie Town fair in 1940 he photographed the rodeo itself, and the calves driven in for roping.

The Rodeo Clown Gets a Laugh, 1940 (Russell Lee). Lee turned his camera away from the arena and onto the crowd: one spectator in stitches at a cowboy clown at the San Angelo Fat Stock Show.

No. 219 · Candid & Wit

The Rodeo Clown Gets a Laugh, 1940 (Russell Lee)

By Russell Lee

From $149

Laughing at the Menfolk, Pie Town 1940 (Russell Lee). Homesteader women and kids in Pie Town, New Mexico, break up at whatever the men were doing at an all-day Sunday birthday visit.

No. 221 · Candid & Wit

Laughing at the Menfolk, Pie Town 1940 (Russell Lee)

By Russell Lee

From $149

Rodeo at the Pie Town Fair, New Mexico, Russell Lee, 1940. Pie Town homesteaders held their own fair and rodeo, and FSA photographer Russell Lee shot it all in color and black and white.

No. 267 · Cowboys & Rodeo

Rodeo at the Pie Town Fair, New Mexico, Russell Lee, 1940

By Russell Lee

From $149

Driving Calves for Roping, Pie Town, 1940 (Russell Lee). Local boys drove calves into the corral for the roping event, the same ranch skill that started rodeo in the first place.

No. 268 · Cowboys & Rodeo

Driving Calves for Roping, Pie Town, 1940 (Russell Lee)

By Russell Lee

From $149