id: 159374
accession number: 1996.20
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1996.20
updated: 2024-03-29 11:23:35.286000
David, New York, 1952. Roy DeCarava (American, 1919–2009). Gelatin silver print; image: 31.6 x 25.5 cm (12 7/16 x 10 1/16 in.); paper: 35.3 x 27.9 cm (13 7/8 x 11 in.); matted: 55.9 x 45.7 cm (22 x 18 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1996.20 © The Estate of Roy DeCarava and Sherry Turner DeCarava
title: David, New York
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1952
creation date earliest: 1952
creation date latest: 1952
current location:
creditline: John L. Severance Fund
copyright: © The Estate of Roy DeCarava and Sherry Turner DeCarava
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culture: America, 20th century
technique: gelatin silver print
department: Photography
collection: PH - American 1951-Present
type: Photograph
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Roy DeCarava (American, 1919–2009) - artist
Roy DeCarava American, 1919- Roy Rudolph DeCarava is often credited as one of the first African Americans to document his culture with a devoted constancy. His images of his native New York -- street scenes and children, family, and friends in Harlem -- exhibit both critical insight and compassion. A series of portraits of jazz musicians (begun in 1956) includes Lester Young, John Coltrane, and Billie Holiday. DeCarava also has worked for many commercial periodicals, including Fortune, Harper's, Sports Illustrated, Look, Newsweek, Time, and Life. After graduating from high school in 1938, DeCarava began working in the poster division of the Works Progress Administration during the day and attending night classes at Cooper Union. He studied drawing and printmaking at the Harlem Art Center (1940-42), continuing at George Washington Carver Art School, where Charles White was his teacher (1944-45). DeCarava began to photograph in 1946 as a means to visualize ideas for his paintings, committing full-time to the medium one year later. In 1950 he had his first solo exhibition at Forty-Fourth Street Gallery. The same year he made his first print sales to Edward Steichen, director of the photography department of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Two years later, DeCarava was awarded a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the first given to a black artist and the ninth awarded to a photographer. DeCarava directed A Photographer's Gallery (1954-56), one of the first spaces dedicated to promoting photography as a fine art. In 1955 he collaborated with writer Langston Hughes on one of his most acclaimed projects, the book The Sweet Flypaper of Life (reprinted 1967). Never one to work in isolation, DeCarava has been a community organizer, curator and gallery director, and political activist throughout his career, receiving numerous honors for artistic achievement, community outreach, and contributions to African-American communities. He has taught photography at Cooper Union (1969-72) and Hunter College (1975-present), and has had more than 15 one-person exhibitions, including retrospectives at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1975), the Studio Museum, Harlem (1983), and the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1996). DeCarava lives in Brooklyn. A.W.
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measurements: Image: 31.6 x 25.5 cm (12 7/16 x 10 1/16 in.); Paper: 35.3 x 27.9 cm (13 7/8 x 11 in.); Matted: 55.9 x 45.7 cm (22 x 18 in.)
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art
opening date: 1996-11-24T05:00:00
Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997).
title: Looking at Children: Photographs from the Permanent Collection
opening date: 2002-07-20T00:00:00
Looking at Children: Photographs from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 20-December 4, 2002).
title: Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art
opening date: 2007-06-24T00:00:00
Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-September 16, 2007); Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh, PA (October 3, 2009-January 3, 2010).
title: A New York Minute: Street Photography, 1920-1950
opening date: 2021-07-11T04:00:00
A New York Minute: Street Photography, 1920-1950. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-November 7, 2021).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* {'description': 'CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art."', 'opening_date': '1997-02-02T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'CMA, July 20 - December 4, 2002; "Looking at Children". No catalog.', 'opening_date': '2002-07-20T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'The Cleveland Museum of Art (6/24/07 - 9/16/07) and Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittburgh, PA (10/3/2009 - 1/3/2010); "Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art", no exhibition catalogue.', 'opening_date': '2007-06-24T00:00:00'}
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PROVENANCE
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.
page number: Reproduced: P. 139
url:
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IMAGES