Clarence John Laughlin: Père Lachaise Columbarium #8

'In memory of
Clarence John
LAUGHLIN
1905–1985
Surrealist
Writer
And
Photographer'

Laughlin was born in the south of the U.S.A. – Lake Charles, Louisiana – although his family moved to New Orleans after the failure of a rice-growing venture, his father being forced to work in a factory. He was much distressed in 1918 by the death of his father, who had fostered in him a great love of literature which never left him.

 

Laughlin took up photography at twenty-five and is considered one of the first surreal photographers in the States. He was influenced by Eugène Atget (1857–1927) and others working on urban landscapes and published Ghosts Along the Mississippi in 1948. Many of his poems and short stories are still unpublished.