id: 291585
accession number: 2016.277
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2016.277
updated: 2024-03-26 02:01:52.639000
Black prisoners in an overcrowded communal cell in the Parish Prison-City Prison of New Orleans, Louisiana, 1965. Leonard Freed (American, 1929–2006). Vintage gelatin silver print; image: 15.1 x 22.6 cm (5 15/16 x 8 7/8 in.); paper: 19.8 x 25.2 cm (7 13/16 x 9 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2016.277 © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos
title: Black prisoners in an overcrowded communal cell in the Parish Prison-City Prison of New Orleans, Louisiana
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1965
creation date earliest: 1965
creation date latest: 1965
current location:
creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
copyright: © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos
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culture: America
technique: vintage gelatin silver print
department: Photography
collection: PH - American 1951-Present
type: Photograph
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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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.”
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measurements: Image: 15.1 x 22.6 cm (5 15/16 x 8 7/8 in.); Paper: 19.8 x 25.2 cm (7 13/16 x 9 15/16 in.)
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inscriptions:
inscription: Written in pencil on verso: “LFBWA-274/6000”
Imprinted in black type on white adhesive label on verso: “PRISONS/ETRANGE/USA NEW ORLEANS/(LOUISIANA)”
Written in blue marker on verso: “9B”
Imprinted in black type on white paper label on verso: “MAGNUM/15 West 46 Street, New York, New York 10036/© Leonard Freed-Magnum USA 1965 [written in black ink]/Black Prisoners in an overcrow-/ded communal cell in the Parish/Prison-City Prison-in New/Orleans (Louisiana)./R 301-19”
Written in pencil on verso: “Leonard Freed (signed)”
Stamped in black ink on verso: “VINTAGE PRINT/© Leonard Freed-Magnum”
Written in pencil on verso: “Book “Black in White America”/1965-New Orleans, LA-USA”
translation:
remark:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Black in America: Louis Draper and Leonard Freed
opening date: 2017-02-26T05:00:00
Black in America: Louis Draper and Leonard Freed. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 26-July 30, 2017).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
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