Reflections in Black: Smithsonian African American Photography
Jan. 24-Apr. 20
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
919 Broadway
Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mon.-Sat., open until 8 p.m. Thurs.; 1-5 p.m. Sun.
For information, call 244-3340 or go to www.fristcenter.org
In 1839, a Frenchman named Louis Daguerre discovered a way to reproduce what the human eye saw without the use of a painter’s brush or a sculptor’s chisel. Though the process was primitive—exposing a light-sensitive material to illumination for up to 30 minutes—it allowed Daguerre to permanently capture the images he saw through the camera obscura, a device designed to project pictures onto a surface only temporarily. Named for its creator, the daguerreotype was born—and the rest is 164 years of photographic history.
It is a history in which African Americans played an early role, as “Reflections in Black,” a sweeping overview of black photographers from 1840 to the present, reveals. “People of color were engaged in this new art form from the beginning,” says Steven Newsome, director of the Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, which organized the exhibition. Just a year after Daguerre revealed his discovery in France, for example, a young man named Jules Lion introduced the daguerreotype to New Orleans. Like their white counterparts, Lion (1810-1866) and other 19th century black photographers seized the opportunity to make a living taking portraits commemorating engagements, weddings and other special moments in a person’s life. “Early photography was primarily portraiture of men or women of class or means,” says Newsome. “Photographs offered them a new way to establish and record their social standing.”
Many 19th century black photographers owned and operated their own studios, and their customers were not always or even usually African American. “Many of their subjects were not black,” says Newsome. “What surprises some people about this exhibit is that it shows that African American photographers were treated as skilled artisans by whites and paid for their services even during slavery and reconstruction.”
The show at the Frist Center features 300 images by 120 photographers that illustrate changes and advances in photography over the past 164 years, while simultaneously documenting the black experience from slavery through the civil rights era to the present day. Arranged chronologically, the exhibit opens with “The First 100 Years,” featuring works by Lions, Augustus Washington (1820-1875) and others, including Florestine Perrault Collins (1895-1988), a pioneering female photographer in New Orleans. The section also includes photographs by Arthur P. Bedou (1882-1966), Gordon Parks (b. 1912) and James Van Der Zee (1886-1983), artists whose work provides a bridge from the early years of portraiture to a more public presence for black photographers. “The earliest photos are about private moments,” notes Newsome. “As we get into the 20th century, though, we see photographers moving into more public subject matter.” Examples include Bedou’s photograph of Booker T. Washington speaking at a public rally and James Van Der Zee’s shot of 1920s black leader Marcus Garvey in Harlem. “Photographers of this era were still using the camera to document people and events, but they were also becoming conscious of the camera as a tool of activism and change,” Newsome adds.
The exhibition’s second section, dubbed “Art and Black Activism,” shows this consciousness developing fully as photographers turned their attention to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s. This is the era of black photography most familiar to the general public; included here are images of key figures like Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali, and events like the Memphis garbage strike as seen by photographers Ernest Withers (b. 1922) and others. Besides documenting the social upheaval and change they saw all around them, black photographers were also experimenting with new artistic approaches. Moving beyond mere reportage, the photographs in this section employ the power of narrative and metaphor to challenge stereotypes of the day. “Gordon Parks’ classic image of a cleaning woman with a broom standing beneath an American flag, for example, is itself a reinterpretation of another American classic—Grant Wood’s 'American Gothic,’ ” Newsome notes.
The final section, “Black History Deconstructed,” features works by contemporary artists, including Nashvillian Carlton Wilkinson and former Fisk professor David Driskell, that push the envelope of photography with digital techniques and mixed-media elements. “In these photos you see African American artists addressing issues of identity, sexuality, masculinity and femininity,” Newsome says. “They are using digital techniques and mixing text with visuals to create new forms of expression. Just as African Americans were pioneers in 19th century photography, they continue to pioneer new forms of the art today.”
Lectures, film screenings, theatrical performances, outreach programs and workshops are planned in conjunction with the exhibition over the next three months. A gallery tour and discussion for families on Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and other famous figures depicted in the exhibit is scheduled for 10 a.m. Feb. 1. The Princely Players troupe offers a program of song and poetry tracing African American music from the Civil War to the civil rights movement, 6 p.m. Feb. 13. Nashville artist Carlton Wilkinson discusses how his photos of black males address issues of gender, race, spirituality and a connectedness to African heritage, 6 p.m. Mar. 20. A three-day event celebrating the contributions of independent African American films, featuring screenings and discussions with actors, directors and film historians, is April 10-12. Meanwhile, an outreach exhibit called “Nashville Reflections,” with photographs created by young artists from Metro Parks and Recreation’s Sevier Community Center, the Martha O’Bryan Center and the CWA-Cayce Learning Center, is on view at Nashville International Airport through May 25.
