id: 171834 accession number: 2014.579 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2014.579 updated: 2024-03-26 02:01:42.167000 Art and Antique Auction, Amsterdam, Holland, 1958. Leonard Freed (American, 1929–2006). Gelatin silver print; image: 15.3 x 22.2 cm (6 x 8 3/4 in.); paper: 15.3 x 22.2 cm (6 x 8 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of George Stephanopoulos 2014.579 © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos title: Art and Antique Auction, Amsterdam, Holland title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1958 creation date earliest: 1953 creation date latest: 1963 current location: creditline: Gift of George Stephanopoulos copyright: © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos --- culture: America, 20th century technique: 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: 15.3 x 22.2 cm (6 x 8 3/4 in.); Paper: 15.3 x 22.2 cm (6 x 8 3/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in pencil on verso: "LFHOL-014.2" Written in pencil on verso: "126 [circled]" Written in pencil on verso: "83mm" Written in pencil on verso: "No 117 [indecipherable words]" Written in pencil on verso: "weg hallen" Written in blue ink on verso: "hoog4sEU [?] 126 [written in pencil]" Written in pencil on verso: "Kunst-Auktion/Amsterdam" Written in pencil on verso: "1958 Amsterdam, Holland-Vintage Print-Leonard Freed/Magnum" Written in pencil on verso: "Leonard Freed (signed)" Written in blue marker on verso: "014 [crossed out] 64 [written in pencil]-10-2-10" Written in blue ink on verso: "g" Written in pencil on verso: "152/10-CDH" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES