The Sweet Flypaper of Life
The Sweet Flypaper of Life
Artist
Roy DeCarava
American, 1919-2009
Author
Langston Hughes
1902-1967
Date1955
Dimensions(Closed) H: 5 in. (12.7 cm); W: 6 in. (15.2 cm)
MediumBook with poem by Langston Hughes and illustrations with gravure reproductions of De Carava's photographs.
ClassificationBooks
Credit LineCarl B. Spitzer Fund
Object number
2005.317
Not on View
Collections
Exhibition History- Works on Paper
Toledo Museum of Art, People Get Ready: 50 Years of Civil Rights, Jun. 27-Sept. 21, 2014.
Label TextPublished in 1955, just one year after the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education that officially ended institutionalized segregation of public schools, The Sweet Flypaper of Life was a groundbreaking volume documenting one woman’s life in Harlem. With photographs by DeCarava and poetry by Langston Hughes, it was unlike anything that had come before it in terms of its portrayal of African-American life. The small book immediately sold out its first printing, and has not been out of print since. Photographer Roy DeCarava, like James Van Der Zee (see Peaceful Family nearby), documented African-American life—not in studio portraits, but in candid photos of everyday life on the streets of Harlem. His images presented a different perspective on the black community to the American public of the 1950s: rather than showing a community torn by political and social strife or downtrodden by harsh circumstance, DeCarava’s photos tell a story of ordinary Americans with the same concerns as anyone else. His collaboration with Hughes produced something at once elegantly beautiful and socially progressive. protected by copyright
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