id: 86254
accession number: 2016.430
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2016.430
updated: 2025-02-08 22:03:43.865000
Christmas Party, Harlem, NYC, 1963. Leonard Freed (American, 1929–2006). Vintage gelatin silver print; image: 16.8 x 24.9 cm (6 5/8 x 9 13/16 in.); paper: 16.8 x 24.9 cm (6 5/8 x 9 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of George Stephanopoulos 2016.430 © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos
title: Christmas Party, Harlem, NYC
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1963
creation date earliest: 1963
creation date latest: 1963
current location:
creditline: Gift of George Stephanopoulos
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: 16.8 x 24.9 cm (6 5/8 x 9 13/16 in.); Paper: 16.8 x 24.9 cm (6 5/8 x 9 13/16 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
inscription: Written in pencil on verso: “LFBWA-123.1/4000”
Stamped in black ink on verso: “© Leonard Freed-Magnum”
Written in black marker on verso: “63-4-1-15/Harlem, New York, Christmas Party”
Written in pencil on verso: “Book: Black in White America 1963”
Written in pencil on verso: “1963 New York, USA/Photographers work print/Unique Vintage Print”
Written in pencil on verso: “Leonard Freed (signed)”
Stamped in black ink on verso: “VINTAGE PRINT”
Stamped in black ink on verso: “© Leonard Freed-Magnum”
translation:
remark:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
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fun fact:
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wall description:
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
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IMAGES