Corsini, Harold

Born on August 28, 1919 in New York City, New York, Harold Raymond Corsini began a life of photography at the age of sixteen when he took an aerial shot of football players, which is now archived at the George Eastman House. His professional career began in the early 1940s, when he worked briefly for Life magazine. Corsini later joined photographer Roy Stryker on the Standard Oil project. Through this project, Corsini documented the oil company's operations worldwide, including in the Pacific and Saudi Arabia during World War II. In 1950, Corsini and his wife, Mary, moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to assist Stryker as head of the photographic department at the Pittsburgh Photographic Library (PPL). While working for the PPL, Corsini, along with other notable photographers such as Clyde Hare, Elliot Erwitt, and Esther Bubley, created a visual record of the city's first Renaissance which began in the 1940s under Mayor David L. Lawrence. After the PPL disbanded in 1960, Corsini began his own commercial photography business, producing ads for local companies as well as working with larger advertising firms. He later became the official photographer for US Steel. During this period, he chronicled many aspects of the steel industry, including industrial and technical pieces. After Corsini retired from commercial photography in 1975, he spent nine years teaching photography and design at Carnegie Mellon University. Harold Corsini passed away on January 1, 2008. Museums around the world have displayed Corsini's photographs. His archived work with the Pittsburgh Photographic Library can be found at the Pennsylvania Department of the Carnegie Public Library in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

From the description of Photograph collection of Harold Corsini, 1940s-1970s. (University of Pittsburgh). WorldCat record id: 428453088