id: 170638 accession number: 2013.184 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.184 updated: 2024-08-08 15:18:12.696000 Transvestite and police officer at a performance of the "Cockettes," New York City, 1971. Leonard Freed (American, 1929–2006). Vintage gelatin silver print; image: 16.2 x 24.1 cm (6 3/8 x 9 1/2 in.); paper: 20.2 x 25.3 cm (7 15/16 x 9 15/16 in.); matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of George Stephanopoulos 2013.184 © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos title: Transvestite and police officer at a performance of the "Cockettes," New York City title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1971 creation date earliest: 1971 creation date latest: 1971 current location: creditline: Gift of George Stephanopoulos copyright: © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos --- culture: America, 20th century technique: vintage gelatin silver print department: Photography collection: PH - American 1951-Present type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Leonard Freed (American, 1929–2006) - artist Born in Brooklyn to Jewish, working-class parents of Eastern European descent, Leonard Freed (1929–2006) went to Europe to become a painter but instead discovered photography. After studying the medium in New York City, he worked as a documentary photographer and photojournalist in Europe. In 1972 he joined Magnum, the celebrated collaborative photo agency. Freed’s photographs in this exhibition are from Black in White America, a series inspired by an experience he had while covering the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. As he photographed an African American soldier guarding the border, it struck Freed that this man was risking his life to defend a country that limited his own rights. Freed returned to New York to undertake a multiyear exploration of African American life. Freed began shooting around New York, and then traveled extensively throughout the South. He spent time in communities getting to know his subjects, and kept a journal recording his impressions and their stories and words. During these years, he also covered Martin Luther King Jr. and numerous civil rights events, but when Freed published Black in White America in 1968, the book focused instead on the fabric of daily life. As a photojournalist, Freed was an observer rather than a participant, but not an impartial one. He believed that “photography is about who you are. It’s the seeking of truth in relation to yourself.” --- measurements: Image: 16.2 x 24.1 cm (6 3/8 x 9 1/2 in.); Paper: 20.2 x 25.3 cm (7 15/16 x 9 15/16 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: written in pencil on verso: "LFGAY-22.1" written in blue ink on verso: "Sexologic-144/74 113A [written in pencil]" written in black marker on verso: "1015/220 [arrows drawn in pencil to the right and left]" written in pencil on verso: "1971 New York City, USA" written in pencil on verso: "Photost" written in black marker on verso: "Revouche [?]/Crète Noil [?]/au niceux [?]" written in pencil on verso: "Leonard Freed (signed)" written in pencil on verso: "71-27-21-29" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES