id: 291586 accession number: 2016.278 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2016.278 updated: 2024-03-26 02:01:52.644000 Playing football in a black neighborhood outside Washington, D.C., 1964. Leonard Freed (American, 1929–2006). Vintage gelatin silver print; image: 16.1 x 24.1 cm (6 5/16 x 9 1/2 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 2016.278 © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos title: Playing football in a black neighborhood outside Washington, D.C. title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1964 creation date earliest: 1964 creation date latest: 1964 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos --- culture: America 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: 16.1 x 24.1 cm (6 5/16 x 9 1/2 in.); Paper: 19.8 x 25.2 cm (7 13/16 x 9 15/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in purple marker on verso: “127 [partially obscured by remnants of adhesive label]” Imprinted in black type on white adhesive label on verso: “MAG00100716-/363” Stamped in blue ink on verso: “TIRAGE ARCHIVE MAGNUM PHOTOS/5, PASSAGE PIVER 75001 PARIS/EPREUVE A RENDRE/MAGNUM PARIS LIBRARY/PRINT TO BE RETURNED” Written in pencil on verso: “LFBWA-285 5000” Written in black marker on verso: “30 [scratched out in blue ink and partially obscured by remnants of adhesive label]” Imprinted in black type on white adhesive label on verso: “US 2.2.4/Humains ruraux” Blue adhesive dot on verso Written in blue ink on verso: “US 2.2.4 [written in black marker]” Imprinted in black type on white paper label on verso: “MAGNUM/15 West 46 Street, New York, New York 10036/© Leonard Freed-Magnum USA 1964 [written in pencil]/Playing foot ball in a Black/neighborhood outside of Washing-/ton D.C./photo from the book: Black in/white America./013-12-20-34” Written in black marker on verso: “63.12.20.34 p 143” Stamped in black ink on verso: “VINTAGE PRINT” Stamped in black ink on verso: “© Leonard Freed-Magnum” Commercially imprinted throughout verso of paper: “Agfa” translation: remark: --- 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). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES