Untitled (Three boys, Sheldon Cafe, Hartford, Connecticut)

Frank Espada, Untitled (Three boys, Sheldon Cafe, Hartford, Connecticut), 1981, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, 2015.22.15, © 1981, Frank Espada Photography
Frank Espada, Untitled (Three boys, Sheldon Cafe, Hartford, Connecticut), 1981, gelatin silver print, image: 9 × 13 12 in. (22.9 × 34.3 cm) sheet: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, 2015.22.15, © 1981, Frank Espada Photography

Artwork Details

Title
Untitled (Three boys, Sheldon Cafe, Hartford, Connecticut)
Artist
Date
1981
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
image: 9 × 13 12 in. (22.9 × 34.3 cm) sheet: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
Copyright
© 1981, Frank Espada Photography
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center
Mediums Description
gelatin silver print
Classifications
Subjects
  • Architecture Exterior — commercial — restaurant
  • Cityscape — Connecticut — Hartford
  • Figure male — child — full length
  • Children
  • Cityscape — street
Object Number
2015.22.15

Artwork Description

In the 1970s, Frank Espada began The Puerto Rican Diaspora, an ambitious exhibition and book project that documented Puerto Rican communities across the United States. Espada followed the trail of migrants who had settled in cities from the Mid-West and East Coast to Hawaii. This picture was taken in Hartford, Connecticut, where many migrants arrived in the 1950s and 1960s to work for the tobacco industry. Despite their depressed surroundings, the three boys depicted here display energy and life. Espada's photographs function both as loving portraits and strident critiques of the social conditions in which Puerto Ricans lived.

Down These Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photography, 2017
Description in Spanish

Durante los años 70, Frank Espada inició su ambicioso proyecto The Puerto Rican Diaspora, formado por una exposición y un libro que documentaron las comunidades puertorriqueñas en todos los Estados Unidos. Espada trazó los pasos de los migrantes radicados en ciudades desde el occidente medio y la costa este hasta Hawái. Esta fotografía fue tomada en Hartford (Connecticut), lugar adonde llegaron muchos migrantes en los años cincuenta y sesenta para trabajar en la industria tabacalera. A pesar de su entorno deteriorado, los tres jóvenes de la imagen están llenos de energía y vida. Las fotografías de Espada son à la vez retratos afectuosos y críticas agudas sobre las condiciones de vida de los puertorriqueños.

Por estas calles bravas: Comunidad y lugar en la fotografía urbana, 2017

Works by this artist (81 items)

East Baltimore Documentary Survey Project
Dateca. 1975
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Linda Rich, Houses were built in close proximity to packing houses and canneries at the turn of the century, 1977-1980, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1983.63.1098, © 1975, George Jadowski
Houses were built in close proximity to packing houses and…
Date1977-1980
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Linda Rich, McElderry Park, 1979, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1983.63.1161, © 1975, George Jadowski
McElderry Park
Date1979
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Linda Rich, Neighborhood boys by the Bankard-Gunther Mansion, Butchers Hill. The mansion, built in 1864, was originally the home of a well-to-do butcher who amassed his fortune during the Civil War by selling his beef and pork products to the Union Army, 1977-1980, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1983.63.1154, © 1975, George Jadowski
Neighborhood boys by the Bankard-Gunther Mansion, Butchers…
Date1977-1980
gelatin silver print
Not on view

Exhibitions

Photograph of children playing in the water from a fire hydrant by Hiram Maristany
Down These Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photography
May 11, 2017August 5, 2017
America’s urban streets have long inspired documentary photographers. After World War II, populations shifted from the city to the suburbs and newly built highways cut through thriving neighborhoods, leaving isolated pockets within major urban centers.

More Artworks from the Collection

John Atherton, Minnesota, from the United States Series, 1946-1949, gouache and ink on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America, 1984.124.6
Minnesota, from the United States Series
Date1946-1949
gouache and ink on paperboard
Not on view
George Segal, The Restaurant, 1975, brush and ink, pen and ink, oil wash, gouache, charcoal and collage: photograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program, 1977.47.56
The Restaurant
Date1975
brush and ink, pen and ink, oil wash, gouache, charcoal and collage: photograph on paper
Not on view
Hans Erni, "The reason, in respect of which we are rational beings, is common: if this is so, common also is the reason which commands us what to do, and what not to do; if this is so, there is a common law also; if this is so, we are fellow-citizens; if this is so, we are members of some political community; if this is so, the world is in a manner a state...My nature is rational and social; and my city and country, so far as I am Antonius, is Rome; but so far as I am a man, it is the world."--Marcus Aurelius Antonius, 121-180. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man., 1950, gouache, scratchwork and india ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America, 1984.124.88
The reason, in respect of which we are rational beings, is…
Date1950
gouache, scratchwork and india ink on paper
Not on view
William H. Johnson, Jitterbugs (I), ca. 1940-1941, pen and ink, gouache, and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.135
Jitterbugs (I)
Dateca. 1940-1941
pen and ink, gouache, and pencil on paper
Not on view