id: 86262 accession number: 2016.434 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2016.434 updated: 2024-03-26 01:55:56.417000 Prisoners in their communal cell in the Angola Prison, Louisiana; Angola was originally a plantation named after an African country, where slaves came from, 1965. Leonard Freed (American, 1929–2006). Vintage gelatin silver print; image: 15 x 22.8 cm (5 7/8 x 9 in.); paper: 19.9 x 25.2 cm (7 13/16 x 9 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of George Stephanopoulos 2016.434 © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos title: Prisoners in their communal cell in the Angola Prison, Louisiana; Angola was originally a plantation named after an African country, where slaves came from 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 George Stephanopoulos copyright: © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos --- culture: America, 20th century 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: 15 x 22.8 cm (5 7/8 x 9 in.); Paper: 19.9 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 pencil on verso: “LFBWA-263/5000” Written in pencil on verso: “SS-23” Black magnum stamp on verso, partially faded out Written in pencil on verso: “Prisons” Written in pencil on verso: “22532 [crossed out]/23790 [crossed out] 21815 [crossed out] 14908 [crossed out] 16964 [crossed out] 33998 26333 [crossed out]/29269 [crossed out]/30309 [crossed out]” Stamped in blue ink on verso: “49625” Written in pencil on verso: “1965 USA/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” Written in pencil on verso: “Book “Black in White America/1965 New Orleans, LA-USA” Written in pencil on verso: “Prisons” Imprinted on paper label on verso: “MAGNUM/15 West 46 Street, New York, New York 10036/© Leonard Freed-Magnum 1965 [written in pencil]/USA/Prisoners in their communal/cell in the Angola Prison (Loui-/siana)./R 305-21 [crossed out in pencil] =old #” Written in pencil on verso: “KCB-8” translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES