Vintage Photos From Robert McCabe's Trips To Greece In The 1950s (PHOTOS)

Legendary photographer Robert A. McCabe has compiled what are, in essence, stunning photographic journals of Cuba and Antarctica, among other places.

McCabe also traveled as a Princeton undergraduate to Greece in June 1954, witnessing firsthand soaring unemployment (at the time of his visit, unemployment was hovering around 30%) and poor wages (those who did work were making a little less than a dollar a day). McCabe recalls in his introduction to his book, Greece: Images of an Enchanted Land, 1954-1965, how unspoiled the landscape of Greece felt before all the tourists and development starting happening, which has forever changed the landscape in Athens.

He traveled extensively through the Aegean after that, from 1954-1965, to document fully the experiences, people and places there (he was, in particular, interested in Greece's iconic architecture).

To see the exhibit in person, head to London's Hellenic Centre in February for their exhibit on McCabe's photographs. The Hellenic Centre 16-18 Paddington Street London W1U 5AS 020 7487 5060 Opening Hours: 7-11 Feb 10am-5pm by appointment only

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Rhodes 1954. This marble Aphrodite, in the museum in Rhodes, was found in the sea. Photo Robert McCabe

Rhodes 1954. This marble Aphrodite, in the museum in Rhodes, was found in the sea.

Photo Robert McCabe

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Comments

[Oxfordblues]

12:10 AM on 01/07/2011

Exquisite photos! Can't decide which one I love the most. I love black and white and viewing these photos make me long for my darkroom and all those wonderful hours of lifting the image from the fixer.

[DrJackD]

06:47 AM on 12/13/2010

In WWII the Nazis could not really subdue or conquer Greece, they just used certain areas for their needs. Now? Since the Euro came in it's gotten only worse for people there. Corporations come in and buy up land, hotels etc. and then virtually seal them off from the country except the beach---tourists come in, eat there, party there, sleep there, and see virtually nothing of the country, spend not a dime in local tavernas and shops etc.---and all the money goes back to Europe. Crete is street after street of dead Mom-Pop businesses, all the kids are hooked into debt for life with credit cards, and the land is being ruined. "Development"? Not.

[JerseyGirl4Obama]

01:56 AM on 12/13/2010

Beautiful photos

[artist-53]

10:55 PM on 12/12/2010

Fabulous!!

[smartdoc]

10:28 PM on 12/12/2010

The vast majority of Americans aren't aware of the politics between the U.S. and Greece. Greece was enslaved 400 years under Turkish rule and was denied a renaissance like the rest of Europe. From the day Greeks gained their precarious independence, foreign countries have meddled with their political affairs. Most Americans don't know that the U.S. was the main supporter for the brutal military junta in the 60s, and they probably don't care. The Greeks though still remember this painful time. The U.S. had military bases in Greece because it was strategically important to them yet Greece was still under constant military threat from Turkey, a fellow NATO member. Even today, Greece is forced to buy billions of dollars worth of military equipment to protect itself from NATO allies. It's easy to say "the lazy Greeks" when you're ignorant of the facts.

[flossophy]

01:22 AM on 12/13/2010

Do you remember why the US supported the junta?

[lrubemp]

09:52 PM on 12/12/2010

Everything about the ugly American tourist comes out in this repulsive little article. See the photos of Greece while things were still natural and the people still picturesquely poor before "development" ruined everything! Greece may be in trouble now, but NOBODY there thinks it will go back to the days after the Civil War, when American-supported monarchist reactionaries bathed the country in blood and a majority lived in abject poverty. And sorry to disappoint you, touristas, but that's a GOOD THING.

[bmattix]

07:45 PM on 12/12/2010

If you can ever make the trip in your lifetime, go to Santorini (Thera/Fira above) and Mykonos Went there in early July as part of a 2 week Italy/Greece/Turkey cruise and they are just beautiful. Very crowded with tourists at that time though. Corfu and Kusadasi, Turkey were also very nice.

[DSOTM]

07:08 PM on 12/12/2010

I know you can do B&W with digital photography but I feel its going to be a lost art-form.

[BBackSoon]

09:31 PM on 12/12/2010

There is something about black and white.

[Oxfordblues]

12:13 AM on 01/07/2011

DSOTM, I do black and white with digital but can't get the tonal qualities right. I took some photos in Italy or old discarded buildings which aren't bad but can't get the contrast right even with a professional printer. Sad, but I feel it is now a sad, lost art-form. I still have my medium format camera though. I think it's going in the oven with me.

[grouseless54]

05:54 PM on 12/12/2010

Anybody enthralled with these photos should read:
"In tearing haste" - letters between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor
The WWII encounters in Greece and the Balkans are worth the read. Mr. Fermor writes evocatively of Greece.

[whizzobutter]

04:55 PM on 12/12/2010

I lived there for a time in the early 80's, and i was astounded at how backwards they were. "Chariots of the Gods" was a hot item at the time, years after the rest of the world had debunked it, and I didn't bother trying to argue with any of them. They were about to embark on their disastrous love affair with the PASOK party. Ungodly pollution was the norm, especially in Athens, and all I heard was, "You Americans are to blame, because of the Marshall Plan." Which by that time was decades-old news. Everybody knocked off work in the early afternoon for a nap, then back to work. There was this sense of entitlement. On the islands, where the tourists hung out the most, there was no sense of urgency or customer service. I wrote an article about the place when I got home, in which I predicted their economy was going to go nowhere, even when the global economy picked up. They've let the tourism industry make them lazy. I can see where their national attitude made it difficult for the EU to want to bail them out.

[Fernando]

05:23 PM on 12/12/2010

Jeez, did you enjoy ONE thing while you were there?

[Crystal water]

06:08 PM on 12/12/2010

I am from Bulgaria and I can confirm that the Greeks are known for being extremely lazy but very conceited and noisy in expressing their left wing opinions.......they enjoyed a nice life style with little work courtesy to the EU via extortion/lies/manipulation / for which we are all are paying/,but the gravy train now is coming to an end.

[KOSMOCITIZEN]

09:35 PM on 12/12/2010

did you ever have to deal with the southerners here in USA?

[smartdoc]

10:10 PM on 12/12/2010

You're from Bulgaria and you're making these allegations about the Greeks? Amazing how unaware people can be to their surroundings.

[Crystal water]

04:21 PM on 12/12/2010

The white and black photography is the most expressive and vivid one.....in conveys nostalgy, history, emotions............magnificent shots.

[moonflowerjewelry]

03:54 PM on 12/12/2010

Lovely set of photos, windows into the past, filtered through our modern perceptions of culture, poverty, necessities...
On the one hand we can say "idyllic" and on the other "deficient in things we take for granted..."

[huffpostreader10000]

03:40 PM on 12/12/2010

photo # 3 says Porch of "Erechtheion".
Hahahahahahah!
*giggle*

[MIKEBC]

03:02 PM on 12/12/2010

1950's America with peace and prosperity, that was a time when America worked, before the rightwing conservatives loused it up.

[Mustang00]

02:45 PM on 12/12/2010

Greece is still beautiful. The architecture, the landscape, the sunshine, its quite a place....its sad that socialism has basically ruined the country's economics and future.

[Caravaggio99]

03:05 PM on 12/12/2010

You are reading too many right-wing websites. It was a conservative government which created the current debt crisis in Greece, mainly by cooking the books in order to join the Euro. It has been left to the socialists to clean out the mess. Also, Greece's problem is not merely the result of too much spending but also of too low tax revenue due to evasion.

[Tsakonas]

04:39 PM on 12/12/2010

Not to mention their two largest industries, tourism and shipping, being devastated by our economic irresponsibility and pirates. We quickly forget how our economic problems have affected the global economy, particularly the frivolous spending of money while visiting a foreign land like one that is so close to the middle east as Greece is.