Austrian National Library Acquires Estate of U.S. Photographer Yoichi Okamoto

Before he became the “Godfather of White House photography,” Okamoto documented the visual lives of Austria after WWII

The Austrian National Library has acquired 15,000 historical negatives and 900 original photographic prints from the personal estate of Yoichi Okamoto (1915-1985). Best known for his unprecedented “all access” coverage of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, the American photojournalist also chronicled life in postwar Austria.

Trümmerfrauen (“rubble ladies”) at work, undated (presumably in 1945) — *Trümmerfrauen* (“rubble ladies”) at work, undated (presumably in 1945)

Mr. Okamoto, who also went by Oke, served in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II and for part of that time was the official photographer of General Mark Clark, the commander of U.S. Occupation Forces in Austria. He then joined the United States Information Services (USIS) and headed the Austrian-chapter of its Pictorial Section in Vienna from 1948 to 1954.

The mission of these photojournalists was to report and document the progress in the Austrian economic recovery and to support the economic, social, and political goals of the United States in postwar Austria with detailed photographic stories, especially highlighting the benefits of American aid and the Marshall Plan for the Austrian public.

According to historians Hans Petschar and Herbert Friedlmeier, “Okamoto’s gaze of Austria in large became USIS’s gaze. (…) In his function as chief of the USIS-Pictorial Branch Okamoto shaped both the political profile and mission of his unit. He made it his goal to present visual means a positive display of American policies in Austria. In the process he also captured the core of the homo Austriacus – both his personal stories and his ideas.“

Vendor stand in front of Saint Stephen’s Cathedral

Orphanage Am Himmel (“In the Sky”), around 1947

Herbert Halbik, who played the “Little Hansel” in “The Third Man”, 1950

Costume designer Ernie Kniepert, before 1954

Nationalratswahlen (“Austrian General Elections”) 1949

Wiener Riesenrad "(“Viennese Giant Ferris Wheel”), 1945

Day-to-day life after the war - doing the laundry, around 1949

Paula Okamoto, Vienna-born wife of photojournalist Yoichi Okamoto

Yoichi Okamoto as official White House photographer in Washington, DC (presumably in 1965)

”We are thrilled that with strong support by the Austrian Embassy in Washington, we managed to bring this historically significant and artistically valuable collection to Austria. Mr. Okamoto deeply influenced and shaped photojournalism in postwar Austria, a country which he loved and regularly visited until the 1970s with his Viennese wife Paula to always wanting to capture it. My special thanks go to his son Philip Okamoto and his wife Kathy (of Greenville, South Carolina), who wanted to see the photographic heritage to be preserved and protected in Austria,” said Director General of the Austrian National Library Johanna Rachinger.

The Austrian National Library has already started a large effort to digitize and inventory this impressive addition, in order to make it accessible for the public.

Reference:
Petschar, Hans, and Herbert Friedlmeier. "The Photographic Gaze—Austrian Visual Lives during the Occupation Decade: A Cross-Section of Ordinary Austrians Photographed by American and Austrian Artists." In Austrian Lives, edited by Bischof Günter, Plasser Fritz, and Maltschnig Eva, 359-84. New Orleans: University of New Orleans Press, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1n2txnx.19

All photos (c) Okamoto / ÖNB (Austrian National Library)