id: 291573 accession number: 2016.284 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2016.284 updated: 2025-02-09 07:31:21.596000 They are dancing at a jazz funeral in the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, 1965. Leonard Freed (American, 1929–2006). Vintage gelatin silver print; image: 13.3 x 20.2 cm (5 1/4 x 7 15/16 in.); paper: 20.2 x 25.2 cm (7 15/16 x 9 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg 2016.284 © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos title: They are dancing at a jazz funeral in the streets 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: Gift of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg 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: 13.3 x 20.2 cm (5 1/4 x 7 15/16 in.); Paper: 20.2 x 25.2 cm (7 15/16 x 9 15/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Imprinted in black type on white adhesive label on verso: “44-01 PEOPLE/YOUTH, BLACKS/C. GROUPS” Written in pencil on verso: “LFBWA-67/6000” Written in black marker on verso: “Youth: Blacks” Imprinted in black type on white paper label on verso: “MAGNUM/72 West 45 Street, New York, New York 10036/LEONARD FREED USA 1965 [written in pencil]/they are dancing at a Jazz funeral/in the streets of New Orleans,/Louisiana/R276-9 [crossed out in pencil] = OLD # [written in pencil]” Stamped in blue ink on verso: “MAGNUM/PHOTO LIBRARY PRINT/NEW YORK./24623/LOG REF: 7542/TO BE RETURNED [stamp is partially adhered by a white adhesive label]” Imprinted in black type on white adhesive label on verso: “Magnum Photos Inc. © 1995 Leonard Freed/[bar code]/PAF 11FRL001+001/New Orleans, LA. Young men dancing at a jazz funeral” Written in black marker on verso: “BIWA” Written in pencil on verso: “Book: Black in White America/59135/1965 New Orleans-USA” Written in pencil on verso: “Leonard Freed (signed)” Stamped in black ink on verso: “© Leonard Freed-Magnum” 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