Untitled [Man with Portfolio] (Primary Title)
Roy DeCarava, American, 1919 - 2009 (Artist)
Kamoinge Workshop, American, founded 1963 (Collective/Workshop)
A central figure in 20th-century photography, DeCarava played a key role in the community of African American photographers and artists in New York. By the early 1960s, he was an important mentor to a younger generation of artists in Harlem, including the founding members of the Kamoinge Workshop, who named him first president of the group in 1963. DeCarava hosted the majority of their Sunday evening meetings in his home at Sixth Avenue and West 38th Street. He often produced dynamic, closely cropped compositions, such as this one, that use the outline of a figure or the gesture of a hand to convey his subject’s character and presence.
Signed on back of mount in black ink: "Roy DeCarava".
Signed and inscribed on back of mount in black ink: "Roy DeCarava/ 81 Halsey St./ Bklyn NY."
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
"A Commitment to the Community: The Black Photographers Annual, Volume I," VMFA, February 16, 2017 – October 1, 2017
"Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop", VMFA, February 1, 2020 - June 14, 2020
"Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop", VMFA, February 1, 2020 - June 14, 2020
DeCarava, Roy, Peter Galassi, and Sherry T. DeCarava, "Roy DeCarava: A Retrospective", (New York: Museum of Modern Art Distributed by H.N. Abrams, 1996)
©artist or artist’s estate
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