Ernest Hallen

{{Short description|American photographer (1875–1947)}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Ernest Hallen | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Ernest "Red" Hallen Profile.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = 1875 | birth_place = Atlanta, Georgia | disappeared_date =  | disappeared_place = | disappeared_status = | death_date = {{Death year and age|1947|1875}} | death_place = Monterey Park, California | death_cause = | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | monuments = | other_names = | citizenship = United States | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Photographer | years_active = 1907 - 1937 | employer = Isthmian Canal Commission | organization = Isthmian Canal Commission | agent = | known_for = Official photographer of the Panama Canal | notable_works = | style = | television = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | criminal_charge =  | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse = Maude Hallen | partner =  | children = 2 daughters | parents = | relatives = | callsign = | awards = Roosevelt Medal | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | module = | module2 = | module3 = | module4 = | module5 = | module6 = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Ernest “Red” Hallen''' (1875–1947) was an American photographer, noted for his 30 years of work as the official photographer of the Panama Canal.

==Life and work==

Hallen was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1875. After spending six years in Puerto Rico and two years in Cuba, he was appointed as the official photographer of the Panama Canal by the Isthmian Canal Commission in 1907. Hallen was contracted to capture “… a series of photographs… about once a month… to show construction progress” to satisfy both Washington and the American public.<ref>{{cite web|title=Documenting the Panama Canal Expansion Program|url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/IR00003853/00001/98j|website=Panama and the Canal}}</ref> In addition to showing the construction and progress of the Panama Canal, Hallen depicted the day-to-day life of the “Zonians” – Americans living in the Panama Canal Zone - and its development over the course of the years. Throughout his 30-year career, Hallen produced between 12,000 and 16,000 images, each with a “strangely satisfying aesthetic experience” portraying life in the Panama Canal Zone.<ref>{{cite web|title=Photographs by Ernest "Red"Hallen|url=https://www.moma.org/momaorg/shared/pdfs/docs/press_archives/5425/releases/MOMA_1976_0085_73.pdf?2010|website=The Museum of Modern Art|accessdate=July 9, 2014}}</ref> For his service to the Panama Canal Zone and as an employee of the Isthmian Canal Commission, Hallen was awarded the Roosevelt Medal with two bars.

Hallen retired as the official photographer of the Panama Canal Zone in 1937, after 30 years of service. Hallen and his wife Maude then moved to Monterey Park, California. Hallen died in 1947 at the age of 72.

The University of Florida Digital Collections maintains an extensive collection of Hallen's work for the Isthmian Canal Commission.<ref>{{cite web|title=University of Florida Digital Collections|url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/pcm/results/?t=hallen}}</ref>

== Gallery == <gallery widths="170px" heights="170px"> File:One Family House.jpg|[http://ufdc.ufl.edu/PCMI008046/00001/1x?search=type+%3d-17 One Family House in Empire, south of Las Cascadas] File:Bas Obispo Cut.jpg|[http://ufdc.ufl.edu/PCMI008056/00001?search=ernest+=hallen Explosion in Progress-Bas Obispo Cut, September 19, 1907] File:Culebra Cut.jpg|[http://ufdc.ufl.edu/PCMI004504/00001?search=ernest+=hallen Shovels at work at Culebra Cut, May 20, 1913] File:Gatun Upper Locks.jpg|[http://ufdc.ufl.edu/PCMI003204/00001?search=ernest+=hallen Gatun Upper Locks, March 12, 1912] File:Steamshovel Loading Rock.jpg|[http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00013964/00001?search=ernest+=hallen Steamshovel Loading Rock, March 1911] </gallery>

== References == {{Reflist}}

==Sources== *{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20141008050333/http://www.fine-arts.org/collection/building-panama-canal-photographs-ernest-hallen/ Building the Panama Canal: Photos by Ernest Hallen.]}} Museum of Fine Arts, n.d. Web. 9 July 2014. *[https://research.archives.gov/description/535444 Photographs of the Construction of the Panama Canal, 1887-1940.] OPA- Online Public Access, n.d. Web. 9 July 2014. *{{cite journal|title=Panama Canal Photographs by Ernest "Red" Hallen |first=Dennis |last=Longwell |journal=Art Journal |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=123–125 |date=Winter 1976–1977 |doi=10.1080/00043249.1977.10793337|jstor = 776159}} *[http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00015478/00001/83x Roosevelt Medal Holders] University of Florida Digital Collections, n.d. Web. 9 July 2014: 81.

==External links== *[http://ufdc.ufl.edu/results/?t=ernest%20hallen Ernest Hallen in the Panama and the Canal Collection] *University of Florida Panama and the Canal Collection and the [http://ufdc.ufl.edu/pcm Panama and the Canal Digital Collection] * [http://ufdc.ufl.edu/ University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC)] * [http://exhibits.uflib.ufl.edu/canal100 Panama Canal Centennial Online Exhibit] * [http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/ George A. Smathers Libraries]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hallen, Ernest Red}} Category:1875 births Category:1947 deaths Category:American photographers Category:People from Atlanta Category:People from Monterey Park, California Category:Zonians Category:American civil servants Category:Panama–United States relations Category:American expatriates in Cuba