by Dorothea Lange, from OMCA Collections

Rondal Partridge (September 4, 1917 – June 19, 2015) was a noted photographer. He worked as an assistant to Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams, and was the son of Imogen Cunningham and Roi Partridge (an etcher who taught at Mills College).

[Ansel] Adams "always jumped over the fence…walked past the garbage. He always wanted to get an immaculate view," his student [Rondal Partridge] once said, "and I spent my life stepping back to include the garbage in my photographic view." 1

Rondal was raised in Oakland along with his twin brother, Padraic, and was a graduate of Oakland High School. 5

Partridge got a job with the National Youth Administration, a New Deal program, and shot numerous photos around Oakland and California documenting life as people transitioned from the Great Depression to WWII.

Perhaps Partridge's best-known photo is called "Pave it and paint it green", showing a parking lot full of cars and Half Dome in Yosemite in the background, shot in the 1960s. 4

"Hanging around the store" May 4, 1940 - across from Roosevelt High School 3"Pave it and paint it green" - OMCA Collections 4

Links and References

  1. Rondal Partridge dies at 97; photographer known for irreverence Los Angeles Times June 27, 2015
  2. Rondal Partridge Photoessays
  3. Rondal Partridge photos on Wikimedia
  4. 2009.46.1.1 Oakland Museum of California Collections
  5. Rondal Partridge, noted black-and-white photographer, dies SFGate.com June 27, 2015
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