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From Harlem to San Juan
In Black and White
Sunday, October 11, 1998
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"Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Lyman," 1940. (Jack Delano) |
In 1941, photographer Jack Delano, on assignment for the Farm Security Administration, traveled to Puerto Rico to document poor living conditions. He fell in love with the island and wound up residing there for 50 years. Photographs of his experiences in Puerto Rico, as well as throughout America, are on display in the Smithsonian's International Gallery, with accompanying text in Spanish and English.
An accomplished author, musician and filmmaker as well as photographer, Delano was interested in displaying a balance of life and art in his work. His non-glossy portraits of a migratory worker, a mother of nine, convicts in a prison camp and a woman quilting all share a stark intimacy that shows the viewer a three-dimensional existence in a two-dimensional frame. Go to photo gallery.
– Nicole Lewis
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"Woman and children at intersection," 1952. (Roy DeCarava) |
Opening Saturday at the Corcoran is an exhibition of nearly 200 black-and-white photographs by Roy DeCarava. The images, covering a span of 40 years, conjure street scenes of Harlem in the '50s, the jazz-masters of its night life, including Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, and the civil rights activism of the '60s. Most striking in DeCarava's work is his emphasis on tone over sharp contrast. He has said he seeks out "the infinite gradations of black and white." His photographs seem murky in comparison to say, the sharp contrasts of Delano's work, and evoke a shadowy world of quiet emotion.
In his picture of a man on the subway, a face is completely obscured in deep shadow, the shovel in the man's hand hovering like the grim reaper's scythe.
A photograph of a Harlem subway entrance is thick with mist and invites the viewer into a lush, dreamlike world. DeCarava never used artificial light, relying on the natural illumination of the scene to retain the feel of a snapshot and the immediacy of real life. Go to photo gallery.
– John Poole
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