Allentown girl featured in AAM exhibition

Donald Bortz took this photograph of his daughter Brenda in the kitchen of their home at 23^rd and Tilghman streets in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1951. It will be on view at the Allentown Art Museum along with other food-themed photographs in the exhibition Selections from the Photography Collection starting September 12, 2025, and continuing through March 8, 2026.

Donald Bortz (American, 1908-1962), Brenda Bortz, Allentown, Pennsylvania (Girl Drinking Milk), from the series Americans in Kodachrome, 1951 (printed 1995), dye transfer print from 35mm Kodachrome transparency. Allentown Art Museum: Gift of Mary Rose Oldt, 2024.

Bortz’s photo was one of 92 images selected from hundreds of thousands taken by amateur photographers in the post-war period of 1945-1965 to be included in Americans in Kodachrome, a book and a nationwide exhibition compiled by Guy Stricherz over 17 years. Stricherz and his wife, professional printer Irene Malli, printed the selected Kodachrome transparencies in the late twentieth century using the rare and complex three-color process of dye transfer printing, which produced rich colors and a varied range of tone.

Stricherz described his project as “the creation of a self-portrait of, by, and for the people,” saying “these pictures form a democracy in Technicolor.” Though highly personal in their depiction of individuals and familial relationships, many of the images inspire a broad sense of nostalgia.

AAM vice president of curatorial affairs Elaine Mehalakes says, “There is something unsettling about this picture of Brenda Bortz drinking a glass of milk in her kitchen, as if the impossibly immaculate white and orange room has been scaled to the size of the girl. There is a nighttime fairytale quality to it, and an oddness to staging such a commonplace event. I think these elements contribute to the curiously compelling quality of the image.”

This photograph was owned by Brenda Bortz, who passed away in 2023. Curt Rowell, a cofounder with Stricherz of CVI Lab, where the photograph was printed, facilitated its donation.