id: 291569 accession number: 2016.280 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2016.280 updated: 2023-09-28 11:06:50.160000 Line of Unemployed Men, New York City, 1963 (printed before 1975). Leonard Freed (American, 1929–2006). Gelatin silver print; image: 16.2 x 24 cm (6 3/8 x 9 7/16 in.); paper: 20.3 x 25.2 cm (8 x 9 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg 2016.280 © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos title: Line of Unemployed Men, New York City title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1963 (printed before 1975) creation date earliest: 1963 creation date latest: 1963 current location: creditline: Gift of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg copyright: © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos --- culture: America 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: 16.2 x 24 cm (6 3/8 x 9 7/16 in.); Paper: 20.3 x 25.2 cm (8 x 9 15/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in pencil on verso: “LFBWA-11.2 7500” Written in red ink on verso: “Unemployment” Imprinted in black type on white adhesive label on verso: “© Leonard Freed/Magnum Photos, Inc.” Stamped in black ink on verso: “50498” Written in pencil on verso: “SOC: 81” Stamped in red ink on verso: “Photograph By/Leonard Freed/© MAGNUM PHOTOS, INC./15 West 46th Street, N.Y.C. 10036/63-7-35/22 [written in black marker]” Written in pencil on verso: “63-7-35/22” Stamped in blue ink on verso: “MAGNUM/PHOTO LIBRARY PRINT/NEW YORK./34024 [written in pencil and crossed out] 34821 [written in pencil and crossed out]/LOG REF. 32069 [written in pencil and crossed out] 45954 [written in pencil]/TO BE RETURNED” Stamped in black ink on verso: “PRINTED BY/BRIGITTE FREED/BETWEEN 1957/AND 1975” Written in pencil on verso: “Leonard Freed (signed)” Stamped in black ink on verso: “© Leonard Freed-Magnum” Stamped in black ink on verso: “VINTAGE PRINT” Written in pencil on verso: “Book: Black in White America 63-7-35-22/1963 New York City, USA (Unemployed Men)” 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: In 1963, the year Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, the unemployment rate in the United States was 5% for whites and 10.9% for blacks. digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES