December 9, 1919, Roy deCarava was born in Harlem, New York. DeCarava
became a critically acclaimed photographer, primarily for his black & white
imaging of the lives of African Americans and jazz musicians in the
communities where he lived and worked. In 1952 he became the first
African-American photographer to win a Guggenheim Fellowship and as a
result of the fellowship, was able to photograph his community and New York
City for one year; expressing early creative impressions through the black and
white silver gelatin process. He went on to have 15 solo shows at the Museum of
Modern Art in New York City. He published five art books, including “The
Sound I Saw” about the Bebop Era jazz musicians of New York and “The
Sweet Flypaper of Life” with Langston Hughes. deCarava's photos and
Hughes's story, told through the character Sister Mary Bradley, depict, and
describe Black family life in Harlem, in the 1950s.
“I'm not a documentarian, I
never have been. I think of myself
as poetic, a maker of visions,
dreams, and a few nightmares.” ~ Roy deCarava
Miles Davis From The Sound I Saw by deCarava
“Joe and Julia singing,” from "The Sweet Flypaper of Life" 1953.
Credit...The Estate of Roy deCarava/Courtesy of David Zwirner
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