Dancers, New York, 1956
Artist: Roy DeCarava (American, 1919-2009)
Date: 1956 (printed c. 1986)
Dimensions:
Overall: 14 x 9 13/16 in. (35.6 x 25 cm);
Image: 13 x 8 7/8 in. (33.1 x 22.6 cm)
Medium: Gelatin-silver print
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1988.57
Label Text:DeCarava reads the city’s small secrets as it goes about its business, and comes in so close that everything outside his concentration falls away,” wrote critic Vicki Goldberg. Roy DeCarava grew up in Harlem and began his artistic career, like many other photographers featured in this exhibition, studying to be a painter. Photography slowly took over as he realized that, “A black painter, to be an artist, had to join the white world or not function—had to accept the values of white culture.”
By 1950, three of DeCarava’s photographic prints were purchased by Edward Steichen for the Museum of Modern Art in New York. With the support of Steichen, DeCarava became the first African American to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1952. With the Fellowship he devoted himself to the study of African American culture in New York. The images he produced of Harlem displayed a lyrical quality unlike anything seen before. He went on to become one of the most important photographers of his generation.
DeCarava used available light whenever possible. His images are full of shadows and reflections and have been described as “bafflingly dark, suffused with stillness.”
By 1950, three of DeCarava’s photographic prints were purchased by Edward Steichen for the Museum of Modern Art in New York. With the support of Steichen, DeCarava became the first African American to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1952. With the Fellowship he devoted himself to the study of African American culture in New York. The images he produced of Harlem displayed a lyrical quality unlike anything seen before. He went on to become one of the most important photographers of his generation.
DeCarava used available light whenever possible. His images are full of shadows and reflections and have been described as “bafflingly dark, suffused with stillness.”
Not on view