Family on Easter, Harlem, NY (Primary Title)

Shawn W. Walker, American, born 1940 (Artist)

1975
American
Photographs
Works On Paper
Gelatin silver print
Sheet: 4 3/8 × 6 3/8 in. (11.11 × 16.19 cm)
Image: 4 5/16 × 6 1/4 in. (10.95 × 15.88 cm)
Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.64 × 50.8 cm)
2018.170
Not on view

Among the founding members of the Kamoinge Workshop, Walker was one of the photo editors for the first three volumes of The Black Photographers Annual. Walker grew up in Harlem, as did Roy DeCarava, whom Walker counts as one of his most important mentors. This image, which was published in the Annual, highlights Walker’s keen eye for compositional patterns. The two white hats offer a near mirror image of one another, with one face revealed and the other concealed.

Signed by the photographer in graphite on verso: "Shawn Walker".
Photographer’s studio stamp in black ink on verso: "Shawn Walker's Studio / 1011 6th Ave. N. Y. 10018/ 221-0931 [entire address lined through]". Photographers reproduction copyright stamp in black ink on verso: "This Photograph shall not be reproduced/ in any form without written authorization/ by W. Shawn Walker / Copyright ©".
Dated and annotated by the photographer in graphite on verso: "1975 / Harlem Easter". Donor inventory number inscribed in an unidentified hand in graphite on verso: "SW002". Inscribed in unidentified hands in graphite on verso: "SW-3 / 700", "700"; and in blue ink: "125 ST TM & 8th Ave.".
Kathleen Boone Samuels Memorial Fund
2018: "Truthful Witnessing: The Black Photographers Annual, Volume 3", VMFA, May 12 - October 14, 2018

"Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop", VMFA, February 1, 2020 - June 14, 2020
© Shawn Walker

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