ROY DeCARAVA
(December 9, 1919 – October 27, 2009)
Roy DeCarava, one of my Friday Inspirations back in August passed away this week at the age of 89.
Roy DeCarava trained to be a painter, but while using a camera to gather images for his printmaking work, he began to gravitate toward photography, in part because of its immediacy but also because of the limitations he saw all around him for a black artist in a segregated nation. Over a career spanning almost 70 years, DeCarava came to be regarded as the founder of a school of African-American photography that broke with the social documentary traditions of his time. He turned his neighborhood of Harlem into his canvas and became one of the most important photographers of his generation by chronicling its people
The NY Times has a slideshow and more information.
Roy DeCarava was born in December 1919 in the Harlem section of New York City, where he was raised by his single mother. He began working at an early age to earn money, and continued to hold odd jobs throughout most of his career as a photographer. He eventually secured admission to The Cooper Union, but left after two years to attend classes at the Harlem Art Center.
In 1955, DeCarava and his wife opened a gallery in the front part of their brownstone apartment on 85th Street called, A Photographer’s Gallery. Although the gallery was only open for two years, it helped pioneer an effort to win recognition for photography as a fine art. Because he felt very strongly about maintaining the artistic integrity of his images, he eventually gave up magazine and freelance work in order to take on a job teaching at Hunter College, where he’s been for over thirty years.
DeCarava was the first African American photographer to win a Guggenheim Fellowship. His work has been the subject of 15 solo exhibitions, including the Museum of Modern Art in 1996. And in 2006 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
© 2001-2011 Thomas Murphy
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Black-And-White
Black America
In the 1950's, photography was hardly considered art. If you wanted to be taken seriously as a photographer, you snapped mountains and models — not your neighbors. It also helped to be white. But Roy DeCarava, turned all of that on its head. He died this week at the age of 89. Listen to the NPR story, or this Fresh Airinterview.
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Roy DeCarava/Courtesy of Sherry Turner DeCarava -
Roy DeCarava/Courtesy of Sherry Turner DeCarava -
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Roy DeCarava/Courtesy of Sherry Turner DeCarava -
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Roy DeCarava/Courtesy of Sherry Turner DeCarava -
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Roy DeCarava/Courtesy of Sherry Turner DeCarava -
Roy DeCarava/Courtesy of Sherry Turner DeCarava -
Roy DeCarava/Courtesy of Sherry Turner DeCarava -
Roy DeCarava/Courtesy of Sherry Turner DeCarava -
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Roy DeCarava/Courtesy of Sherry Turner DeCarava -
Roy DeCarava/Courtesy of Sherry Turner DeCarava
DeCarava was born in Harlem in 1919 to a single Jamaican mother. He had plenty of odd jobs before he picked up a camera. He was a shoe shiner, a newspaper salesman and an ice hauler. But his natural artistic gifts eventually led him to art school, where he began as a painter. It wasn't long before the lens replaced the brush.
In 1952, DeCarava applied for the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. He was the first black photographer to receive the grant, and he used it to photograph Harlem. The photos from this period eventually became the contents of a book.The Sweet Flypaper Of Life was made in collaboration with Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes. It showed Harlem as a mix of quiet ordinary moments, everyday struggles and tiny triumphs.
DeCarava continued to photograph throughout his life, most notably the New York jazz scene. He captured all the greats; the musical genre suited his improvisational style and democratic eye. But the most important thing to DeCarava was that the old woman next door deserved a photograph just as much as John Coltrane. The black man on the stoop merited a frame as much as the white supermodel.
According to Ron Carter, legendary jazz bassist, DeCarava had a sixth sense. "My impression of his photographs is that he sees the music," Carter said in an NPR interview. DeCarava saw the music in jazz performances — but also in kids playing in the street, in a young woman staring out her window, in men on park benches. He saw the music and the beauty in black Harlem, and he showed that face to America.
Watch this narrated video of DeCarava's work:
>via: http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2009/10/decarava.html