id:			291582
accession number:	2016.293
share license status:	Copyrighted
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2016.293
updated:		2024-03-26 02:01:52.620000

Staten Island, NY/Mother with Children, 1954. Leonard Freed (American, 1929–2006). Two vintage gelatin silver prints mounted back to back; overall: 27 x 22.4 cm (10 5/8 x 8 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg 2016.293 © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos

title:				Staten Island, NY/Mother with Children
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			1954
creation date earliest:		1954
creation date latest:		1954
current location:		
creditline:			Gift of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg
copyright:			© Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos

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culture:	America
technique:	two vintage gelatin silver prints mounted back to back
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<em> Black in White America, </em>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 <em>Black in White America</em> 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: Overall: 27 x 22.4 cm (10 5/8 x 8 13/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

	inscription:	STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK: Written in black ink on recto of image a: “Leonard Freed (signed)”
Written in black ink on recto of image a: “1954-1955 STATEN ISLAND, NY-USA/VINTAGE PRINT BY: LEONARD FREED-MAGNUM”
Written in black ink on recto of image a: “BOOK: BLACK IN WHITE AMERICA”
Stamped in black ink on recto of image a: “© Leonard Freed-Magnum”
Stamped in black ink on recto of image a: “VINTAGE PRINT”
	translation:	
	remark:		

	inscription:	MOTHER WITH CHILDREN: Written in black ink on recto of image b: “Leonard Freed (signed)”
Stamped in black ink on recto of image b: “© Leonard Freed-Magnum”
	translation:	
	remark:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Black in America: Louis Draper and Leonard Freed
	opening date:   2017-02-26T05:00:00
	<i>Black in America: Louis Draper and Leonard Freed</i>. 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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